Breaking: Eric Massa (D-NY) Resigning

One less yes vote for ObamaReidPelosi care!

Surely you remember our friend Rep. Eric Massa. I didn't think you can get away with the whole, 'health problems and sexual harassment' thing with a simple retirement in 10 months.

The district he represents in NY is trending Republican but it's likely this whole health care thing will be over one way or another by the time a replacement is seated. So, this is one less yes vote but it also lowers the number necessary to pass the bill. Does that even out in the wash or just lowers the number of 'no' votes Pelosi needs to flip to 'yes'?

Right... [ace] But it's also one gone from the possible no-to-yes list.

More [DrewM.]: Massa's statement

In a statement released Friday, Massa directly addressed the ethics issue for the first time, acknowledging that he used language that might have made staffers uncomfortable. But he did not specifically address any specific sexual harassment allegations.

“I own this reality. There is no doubt in my mind that I did in fact, use language in the privacy of my own home and in my inner office that, after 24 years in the Navy, might make a Chief Petty Officer feel uncomfortable,” Massa said. “In fact, there is no doubt that this Ethics issue is my fault and mine alone. But in the incredibly toxic atmosphere that is Washington D.C., with the destruction of our elected leaders having become a blood sport, especially in talk radio and on the internet, there is also no doubt that an Ethics investigation would tear my family and my staff apart.”

That sounds like a little more than some tough language. There are a lot of politicians and high power executives who yell and even degrade subordinates. That usually doesn't fall into the category of tearing one's family apart.

posted by DrewM. at 03:40 PM

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