Former Rep. Barney Frank (D) on Wednesday rejected the notion that he was wrong to publicly volunteer for an interim appointment to fill the Senate seat that is expected to be vacated by Sen. John Kerry (D), dismissing the criticism as “junior high school stuff.”
“I did have people say, ‘Well, you’re not supposed to volunteer,'” Frank told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. “And frankly, my view is that’s, it’s kind of junior high school stuff. The difference between me and a number of other people who want to be the interim senator is that I’ve said so publicly and the rest are being coy.”
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has not indicated who he will appoint to fill the seat before the state’s special election, although he said last week that Frank “would be a great interim senator.” An aide to Patrick, however, said there are “better options” than Frank to fill the interim role.
Watch the exchange:
