Damian Paletta

Damian Paletta heads the Wall Street Journal's D.C.

bureau.

He was hilarious.

He was mean.

He was brilliant.

He would kind of slump in his chair.

Damien first started writing about Barney Frank about 20 years ago.

This was an era when I covered him really from 2006, I'd say, to 2012, an era where a lot of lawmakers were figuring out how to monetize their term in Congress and how to raise tons of money.

And he was just the same old Barney, you know, shirt untucked, you know, suit wrinkled.

always hair kind of pushed around, and he was kind of an old-school guy in an era when Congress was changing.

I think he's an iconic figure.

Whether you appreciated him or really reviled him, I mean, he was a force to be reckoned with for his time in Congress.

And no matter where he was, what issue he was weighing in on, he had something really kind of thoughtful and poignant to say and provocative often.

And so no matter whether you were...

the most conservative member, the most liberal member, you know, Barney Frank always got everyone's attention.

Who is Barney Frank and what's he like?

He always was the smartest person in the room, and no one knew that more than him.

And so he was always kind of interjecting and butting in and making wise remarks and trying to shut people down.

And no one could deliver fiercer feedback than he could.

Did he ever deliver fierce feedback to you?