Courtesy of Andrew Sullivan, my favorite gay catholic anti-torture pro-Obama (probama?) conservative blogger, I came across this video of Barney Frank on the floor of the House of Representatives. Frank, who I briefly interviewed once, is pointing out what a bunch of douchebags the Republicans are for not only trying to block passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would extend federal anti-discrimination protection to the gays, but for not even having the balls to oppose it explicitly. Instead, they tried (and failed, praise be the Lord), to indefinitely delay a vote on the legislation through sneakysneaky parliamentary maneuvers (I think that’s the name, actually, of an obscure ’80s new wave band).
Here’s Frank, and keep in mind, while you’re wading through the very complicated parliamentary syntax of the first minute or two of the speech, that part of what makes Frank such a badass is precisely that he’s able to switch, on the turn of a dime (is that an expression?), from very complicated procedural logic to very lucid, common sense rhetoric. Also, the standing O at the end is pretty awesome.
Also, by the way, ENDA passed the house, which is pretty awesome. Go Democrats!
