I believe Barone is gay which would explain the interior design remark.
made me laugh
Sooooo, that explains the wheeled cage gerbils he has with him 24/7
Born in Highland Park, Michigan, he is the son of Alice Katherine Barone and Charles Gerald Barone who was an MD, a surgeon. His mother was of Irish descent and his father of Italian descent. While at Yale Law School, he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He has been conservative as an adult but worked as an intern for Jerome Cavanagh, the Democratic mayor of Detroit.
Michael was a supporter of George McGovern in 1972. Barone has said he is not a religious believer, although he is sympathetic to and respectful of socially conservative believers. Barone married Joan Shorenstein in 1975 but she died in 1985 at the age of 38 after a 10 year long battle with cancer. They had one child, a daughter named Sarah Barone, together.
Does every man who is single have to be Gay? Perhaps his wife was his true love and he did not want to replace her?