Mother Nature's Son

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As the Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby once wrote, “That which is permitted to Massachusetts congressmen is not permitted to congressmen from other states.”

Just refer back to Ted Kennedy’s underwater adventures, John Kerry’s duplicitous record, and now this:

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As John Hinderaker notes:

A Boston TV station discovered that Barney Frank was present in 2007 when police raided his boyfriend’s home in Maine and confiscated marijuana, bongs and marijuana plants. Somehow this didn’t come out until now. In the TV interview below, Frank professes ignorance of the contents of his boyfriend’s house–he was on the porch when the police arrived!–and says he wouldn’t recognize a marijuana plant if he saw one. It’s a wonderful image, really: the boyfriend has these weird, spiky house plants scattered around the premises and Barney thinks they’re ferns or something. And he didn’t recognize the bags of marijuana, the marijuana smoke or the bongs because he “only smokes cigars.”

A caller to our radio show today wondered whether this revelation will imperil Frank politically. Given that he professed similar ignorance of the fact that a previous boyfriend was running a male prostitution ring out of Barney’s home, a fact which Massachusetts voters found entirely unexceptionable, I don’t think a little dishonesty about dope will hurt him any.

This TV interview does contain the most credible statement I’ve ever heard Frank make: “I’m not a great outdoorsman.”

Just as he earlier did for Robert Gibbs, Moe Lane proffers a helpful refresher course for the beleaguered senator.

Update: One of Moe’s commenters note that Frank gave a speech at NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, back in 2001. So something tells me that while he is indeed not a great outdoorsman, Frank could recognize the stickiest of the icky if need be.

Update: In the comments below, Andrew X reminds us of yet another ethics compromise for Frank:  “Media Mum on Barney Frank’s Fannie Mae Love Connection.”