Eric Massa: The Democrats Whacked Me Because I Opposed Health Care Reform

And oh yeah, "Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn".

I guess this is his story and he's sticking with it.

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."

Massa voted against the original House bill because it wasn't liberal enough. He famously told some nutroots group that he'd vote for a single payer system even though his district didn't want it. Massa is also the guy who said Sen. Charles Grassley committed treason because of the wording of his opposition to government run health care.

Massa was definitely a guy Pelosi needed to flip but not because he was a 'conservative' or even 'moderate' Democrat who thinks the whole thing is too much but rather because he's a progressive who wants a plan that goes further to the left. It seems he's more likely to be the type (and he's not alone) who has to be assured this is just the beginning not the end. That's a lot easier sell, even with the prospect of the Democrats losing the House, simply because history shows all government programs grow beyond their promised scope at some point. It strikes me there's easier ways to get his vote than this.

As to the sexual harassment charge, Massa says he was a staff members wedding on New Year's Eve and he and some of his staffers had a few, um, beverages and then this occurred.

"I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat at down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them, by the way bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don't know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that.

"And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and I said, 'What I really ought to be doing is frakking you,' and then tossled the guy's hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn't be there."

"Was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely."

If he had only added "like a viking" to the end of that it would have been no harm, no foul.

It strikes me that given Massa's over the top performances in the past he was simply ill suited to a life in politics (not sure how he got through a Navy career like that but I guess he did). The guy is just weird. Sometimes that can be charming and sometimes it gets you kicked to the curb, it's a fine line.

posted by DrewM. at 11:00 AM

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