Almost every edition of MSNBC’s Hardball offers a spit-take moment courtesy of host Chris Matthews, but it instead was a guest on Tuesday as openly gay former Democratic Congressman Barney Frank (Mass.) smeared late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia by quipping that on the issue of flag burnings, Scalia wasn’t really supportive that right as much as he was for “fag burning.”
Frank’s horrid joke was made while he was supposed to be discussing President-elect Donald Trump’s tweet about burnings of the American flag that’s sent the media into a tailspin and he did initially when he jumped in to claim Trump’s tweeting with sinister motives.
“I disagree with this oh, he just got up in the morning than and said it. Let's not under estimate this man's shrewd tactical sense. He has a great ability to find out what might really anger people and he’s clearly got problems because he just didn’t talk about this. He made this preposterous claim that there was voter fraud. He understands that when he starts proposes very controversial things,” Frank complained.
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The far-left former member of Congress also pontificated that since Hillary Clinton won the popular vote so decisively and Trump is so polarizing, “he is by far the most minority President we've ever had in this country is going to be a very big problem” (despite the fact that Trump won with over 300 votes in the Electoral College).
It was then that Frank launched into his pathetic cheap shot at the memory of a now-deceased jurist using a homophobic slur:
I do think that maybe one kinda problem — it is interesting that as you noted, Scalia wrote the opinion, was strongly on the other side of this and he cited Scalia as his favorite judge. I think there was a pronunciation problem. You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning and I think that's where he got himself a little confused.
Matthews, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Politico’s Eli Stokols were all heard chuckling for a few moments in shock at Frank’s relatively obscene remark before a giggly Matthews gathered himself back up and informed Frank “that’s not funny” (albeit with a smirk still on his face) prior to steering things back to substantive matters.
The relevant portion of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on November 29 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
November 29, 2016
7:07 p.m. Eastern
BARNEY FRANK: I disagree with this oh, he just got up in the morning than and said it. Let's not under estimate this man's shrewd tactical sense. He has a great ability to find out what might really anger people and he’s clearly got problems because he just didn’t talk about this. He made this preposterous claim that there was voter fraud. He understands that when he starts proposes very controversial things, the fact is that he is by far the most minority President we've ever had in this country is going to be a very big problem, so this is I think part of a calculated strategy. I do think that maybe one kinda problem — it is interesting that as you noted, Scalia wrote the opinion, was strongly on the other side of this and he cited Scalia as his favorite judge. I think there was a pronunciation problem. You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning and I think that's where he got himself a little confused.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Okay. Let's — do you want to — that’s not funny.
