epresentative Barney Frank said yesterday that an off-color remark by House majority leader Dick Armey shows the GOP is a long way from the compassionate conservatism that George W. Bush is trying to convey.
Armey, a Texas Republican who called Frank ''Barney Fag'' in 1995, made a joke about Frank at a party Wednesday night in Philadelphia, where Bush accepted his party's nomination for president during the Republican convention.
The comment was made during a conversation with humorist Dave Barry and several reporters. Barry said he jokingly asked Armey: ''Are you the real Dick Armey?''
''He said, 'Yeah, I'm afraid I am' and then he kind of obliquely referred to all the trouble he got into before, and then he made a joke about his name,'' Barry said.
The joke was a vulgar play on words involving Frank, who is gay.
Frank said Armey's comment was ironic in light of the tolerant message the party tried to convey in Philadelphia.
''It's just interesting that as hard as George W. Bush is trying to disguise the real nature of that party, it's beyond his capacity,'' said Frank, a Newton Democrat. ''You still have one of the most important figures in the Republican Party, the majority leader of the House, making these kinds of remarks.''
But Barry defended Armey, saying the joke was entirely self-deprecating.
''He was making fun of himself and the trouble he got into one time,'' Barry said, referring to the fallout from the 1995 comment, which Armey has said was a slip of the tongue.
''Dick Armey is not stupid enough that he's going to get up and make a joke about minority groups in front of the press,'' Barry said. ''I'm not a fan of Dick Armey, but it's blown totally, grotesquely out of proportion.''
A spokeswoman for Armey, Michele Davis, did not return repeated calls for comment yesterday.
