Massa, Health Care, and his Resignation

By Douglas V. Gibbs

New York Rep. Eric Massa, who's resignation has been credited to health problems, and gay come-ons, is now blaming his resignation on a conspiracy by House Democratic leaders to force him out before a crucial vote on health care because he was one of the Democrats that dared to vote against the House version of the health care bill in November.

He says Democratic leaders will "stop at nothing" to advance the health care overhaul.

"There's a reason that this has all happened, frankly one that I had not realized," Massa said on WKPQ radio on Sunday. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, 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'll pass. . . When I voted against the cap and trade bill, the phone rang and it was the chief of staff to the president of the United States of America, Rahm Emanuel, and he started swearing at me in terms and words that I hadn't heard since that crossing the line ceremony on the USS New Jersey in 1983," Massa said. "And I gave it right back to him, in terms and words that I know are physically impossible. . . If Rahm Emanuel wants to come after me, maybe he ought to hold himself to the same standards I'm holding myself to and he should resign," Massa said. . . Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn. He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive. . . I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me. . . On New Year’s Eve, I went to a staff party. It was actually a wedding for a staff member of mine; there were over 250 people there. I was with my wife. And in fact we had a great time. She got the stomach flu. I said goodnight to the bridesmaid, sat 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 and his points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that, and I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and said, ‘Well, what I really ought to be doing is frakking you.’ And then [I] tossled the guy’s hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where it wasn’t right for me to be there. Now was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely. Am I guilty? Yes."

The transcript of the audio is from WKPQ, recorded March 7, 2010.

The changes in his stories revolving around all of this definitely hurts Massa's credibility, and his resignation helps the Democrats, dropping the number of votes needed to pass the health care legislation, and eliminating a Congressman that would have possibly voted against it.

Massa could have weathered this ethics investigation, and he didn't have to go, so his resignation, and the stories around it, can be labeled as bizarre, in the least.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Massa blames resignation on health care, not harassment accusations - New York Post

Massa: Rahm is ’son of the devil’s spawn,’ confronted me in shower - The Raw Story