WTF were the flight attendants doing? I really like Barney's partner.
Barney Frank has enemies, even 30,000 feet in the air.
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.
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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."
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"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."
Needless to say, the women didn't appreciate the remark, and things got heated. (Attempts to locate or ID the women were unsuccessful.) Sexton, who's an HR director for the UK-based retailer All Saints Spitalfields, said flight attendants weren't working hard enough to defuse the situation, so she got involved.
"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.") Finally, the parties calmed down and remained quiet for the rest of the flight. (Sexton was offered some complementary wine for her trouble.)
Said Frank: "It reminds me of the joke about the woman who's in a restaurant and Clark Gable's there. She complains to the waiter, 'Clark Gable is annoying me.' The waiter says, 'He's not even talking to you,' and she says, 'Yes, and I find that very annoying.'"
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