“Once he switched the vote, the ethics probe would have vanished.”
Yes but the point is to publicly destroy Massa so the other dems fall in line. If they vote for obamacare they may lose in November but if they vote against they might have to deal with gay staffers accusing them of sexual harassment.
My point regards Massa’s motivation for quitting—he could have made the ethics investigation go away by switching his vote. He quit for reasons that are not clear.
Appears that way, doesn't it.