Barney Frank’s Eleven Best Insults

Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Massachussetts Representative Barney Frank bangs his gavel during a hearing on the Lehman Brothers collapse with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Schapiro on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 20, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Barney Frank. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) Photo: SAUL LOEB/2010 AFP

In honor of the looming departure of Barney Frank, Congress’s crotchiest member, The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza has compiled a list of eleven of the representative’s surliest insults to members of the press (including New York’s Jason Zengerle), which collectively used the word stupid three times, idiotic twice, and insane once. A taste: “Congratulations. You’re four-for-four in managing to find the negative approach.” (Barney Frank to NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.) Another: “I hate your column.” (Barney Frank to the Washington Post’s Al Kamen.) Bonus points to whoever can guess who Rep. Frank was referring to as “a demented, right-wing source.”

Barney Frank’s Eleven Best Insults