Barney Frank's Partner Gives Drunk Eye Doctor Ladies What-For On Airplane

Barney Frank and his partner were flying back from their gay vacation in California the other day when who did they run into on the plane, oh god, a couple of drunk ophthalmologist sisters being obnoxious from a few seats away. We've all been there. These mean drunk doctor ladies were harassing Barney Frank, and, as usual, he and his partner just started making fun of them.

Flying back to Boston from LA yesterday, the congressman was assailed by a pair of ophthalmologists upset about the health care reform bill. An argument ensued that prompted some passengers to wonder if the plane might be forced to land.

"No one was calming things down and people were standing up shouting," said Brooke Sexton, who was seated seven rows behind Barney.

Accustomed as he is to being conservatives's favorite bad guy, Frank mostly ignored the doctors's taunts, Sexton said, but the congressman's partner, Jim Ready, did not.

The problem started soon after the ophthalmologists - two sisters on their way to a conference in Boston - boarded the Virgin flight. When they discovered that Frank was sitting nearby, the women loudly dissed the landmark health care bill as an "Obamanation." (Frank was returning from LA, where he'd received an award from the Greenlining Institute, an economic development group for minorities, and appeared on Jay Leno's show.)

"They wanted to talk to me, but I apologized and said I like to read and watch on planes," Frank told us today. "They began to talk louder and that's when Jimmy (Ready) said, 'If you're trying to be bitchy, you're doing a good job.'"

Ha ha. Imagine having such a comfortable Congressional seat that you can freely and proudly tell the local newspaper about how your gay partner called a couple of drunk gals "bitchy."

Oh, right, here's the part about the drinking:

"The women had been drinking, and they were crying and shouting," Sexton said. "They were clearly the antagonizers, and Mr. Frank was kind of minding his own business." (She said Ready also upset another passenger, calling him "Santa Claus.")

Ready/Santelli '12?

[ Boston Globe ]