I like Eric Massa. I really do. So I feel a sense of dread and sadness when I see how this story is slowing but surely spiraling out of control. Massa's story is becoming more and more ridiculous, layered, angry, and scorned. This is a classic slash-and-burn tactic and it's very sad to see.
In roughly 12 hours, Massa has changed his narrative from "congressman resigning in disgrace" to angry, Howard Beale-esque truth-teller who'd simply had enough and will take his party to the woodshed. Left unsettled: the incredibly important issue of whether he'll resign today, as he said he would, or he'll try to bring down the health care bill by staying in Congress.
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Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) says the House ethics committee is investigating him for inappropriate comments he made to a male staffer on New Year's Eve - and that he's the victim of a power play by Democratic leaders who want him out of Congress because he's a "no" vote on health care reform.
"Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Massa, who on Friday announced his intention to resign, said during a long monologue on radio station WKPQ. "And this administration and this House leadership have said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots."
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In a heated, rambling monologue on his weekly show on Hornell radio station WKPQ-FM, Massa described the conversation that he said led to an investigation. The show is listed on Massa's official schedule, and a link to a recording -- http://drop.io/massa3710 -- was provided by WHAM-TV.
After dancing with a bridesmaid, Massa said, he returned to a table full of male staffers who he said had been drinking heavily.
"A staff member made an intonation that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid," Massa said. He responded by saying, "Well, what I really ought to be doing is frakking you." He said the complaint came not from that staffer, but from another at the table. source
There's really not a whole lot I can add here. I think there's probably a lot of valid things that Massa is saying but the fact that he's decided now to go on the attack and is sitting down for an hour long discussion with Glenn Beck doesn't pass the smell test with me. It smells like conspiracy-paranoia-last ditch attempt to save his skin. And for that, I find the whole situation utterly depressing. When someone who comes across as straight forward, active, and bold as Eric Massa can get caught up in this sort of insanity, it makes me wonder how we can trust those that represent us. If not Eric Massa, then who? |
