Posted on 03/09/2010 5:24:34 AM PST by shortstop
Eric Massa is a snake.
But he is a brilliant snake.
And in one of the most audacious p.r. moves ever, he has conned Limbaugh, Drudge and Beck – and untold millions of Americans. From a little radio studio beside a swamp, with the help of a couple of deluded backwoods yokels, he has made himself a national star.It is astounding.
And proof that in American politics, it’s not how big your lie is, it’s how loud you can yell.
And so it is that Eric Massa, who fled the Congress out of fear of what Ethics Committee investigators would find out about him, has wrapped himself in the robes of a patriot martyr.
A guy who – until yesterday – belonged to the House Progressive Caucus has, with one nicely disseminated rant, transformed himself into a conservative darling. Limbaugh and Beck have trumpeted him, and Beck has promised him an entire hour of national television tonight. Massa opposed Obamacare because it wasn’t liberal enough – because it didn’t entirely nationalize health care with a single-payer system – and Beck is about to crown him queen of the tea party.
It is a media move of astounding proportion. It takes spin to a whole new level.And it shows Massa to be a genius.
And, if anybody’s paying attention, a liar.
But, nobody is paying attention, and his con is working.
But for the record, a few facts.
The first is that over the space of five days Eric Massa gave three completely different explanations for why he was leaving the House of Representatives. Each was passionately delivered, each was earnestly intoned, and each was mutually exclusive.
That means they can’t all be true.
For example, on Wednesday, he announced that he would not seek re-election. He said it was because his cancer was back. He implied that he was dying and that his doctor had told him that his workload was killing him.
By Friday, however, it wasn’t cancer anymore, and it wasn’t just no re-election. It was resignation. He said he had to “own this reality,” acknowledged that he had done something that made him unworthy of office, and that his background contained events that congressional investigators would uncover if they looked into him.
Let’s review. Wednesday it was cancer, Friday it was personal failing.
And Sunday it was a conspiracy.
On Sunday, he drove to radio station WKPQ for his weekly show. Coincidentally, both his chief of staff and I have worked at WKPQ. With him were two radio people who have been sympathetic to his cause and his campaigns.
And Eric Massa went off.
He claimed that he was being forced out of the House because he voted against health-care reform. In some sort of grand plot involving the chief of staff of the White House and the House majority leader and any number of other mystery Democrats, he was being crucified.
It was his courage and independence, he claimed, that had made him a marked man. He dared to stand up to Obama, and to be his own man, and they were crushing him. He was a poor victim of evil Democrats.
And he said the f-word once.
And that’s why he was quitting the Congress.
And no sooner was the show done, with its listenership in the dozens, than somebody started sending links to it all across the media world.
By 8 yesterday morning, Fox News Channel had bought the narrative. Here was a Democrat, destroyed by Democrats, for voting against health care.
Glenn Beck fell in love next. Then Rush Limbaugh.
All accepting the Eric Massa claim that he was the deciding vote on health care, and that by silencing him the Democrats were trying to force big government on the people, and that the public will was being destroyed.
The problem, of course, was that it was absolutely untrue – and anybody with a grasp of Google could verify that.
Eric Massa was one of 39 House Democrats who voted against health care reform. A third of those Democrats were, like Massa, newly elected. All but one of them was, like Massa, from districts that voted for John McCain. A good chunk of them were, like Massa, in districts which had recently elected Republicans.
Of the 39 Democrats who opposed health care reform, Eric Massa had the fifth-smallest margin of electoral victory.
Put another way, he won the seat by the skin of his teeth and if he didn’t mind his P’s and Q’s, he would lose it.
So he was expected to vote against health care. His constituents didn’t want it, and he had to oppose it. That was understood by all, including the Democratic leadership of the House.
As to the looming vote, at least a dozen of the House Democrats who opposed health care before have already said they oppose it now. That means, not counting Massa, there are a dozen Democrats defying their party.
And what is the party doing to them?
Nothing. Other than plenty of sweet talking, and dinner at the White House over the weekend.
The claim that Massa is being taken down for voting against health care, while others who did the same thing are being treated kindly and even rewarded, is preposterous.
It is an illogical and unbelievable lie.
And conservatives eager to find an ally against Obamacare have latched on to it like it was God’s own truth.
And Eric Massa is a hero. Millions of conservatives have embraced a liberal who defies everything they stand for, and he has become the sweetheart of Beck and Limbaugh. Last night, Beck breathlessly Tweeted the news that he had spoken to Massa off the air and was excited to have him for an entire hour on TV tonight.
I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody offers him a TV commentator job somewhere. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he keeps getting away with it. If Limbaugh and Beck say he’s OK – and they will have to now, to save face – then millions of people will think he’s OK too.
Eric Massa is a brilliant, audacious snake.
But he is still a snake.
I met Bob Lonsberry in Utah when I went to see Glenn Beck for a book signing. They were obviously good friends. The audience waiting for Glenn was thrilled to meet Bob and his handsome son in person.
He actually seemed like a very decent man. I started listening to his radio show in Salt Lake after that and it confirmed it. He’s common sense conservative in views, and very very likable.
Keep that in mind as you jump to conclusions about “the author” being an idiot.
He may be a decent guy, but he left his brains at home on this one.
Because he is a DEM, he’s automatically worthy of skepticism. If he did no wrong, why resign? I find his details about the showers disgusting and disturbing.
You may see him for what he is but you are wrong
that he is not being heralded. Take a trip around
the conservative side of the web. Many are falling
for him.
Beck may fall for it.
You are probably right. I don’t get much anywhere else other than FR.
Let’s hope not ;-)
Massa may have a bad record but you don’t go making damning public statements about Obama’s top advisor without some truth behind it.
I agree that he is no conservative hero. But Massa is using the right wing talkers as much as they are using him. It all looks very unseemly for the thug Dims. Having the WH on the defensive on thug charges is only a good thing. The WH and Pelosi probably had quite a bit of other dirt on this guy. Otherwise, he would have stayed in for a little longer and opposed 0bamacare just to take a stand against the corruption that he finds so detestable.
Massa probably plays a lot things both ways. Although he may be useful for a time, he is still a disgusting Dim pol.
Exactly: he is a two bit player.
And you probably would NOT find
his body !
“Exactly: he is a two bit player.
And you probably would NOT find
his body !”
Ya gotta hand it to those Chicago thugs...
They make those alive(Jimmy Hoffa) dead, and bring the dead to life(taking voters names off of tombstones)
You said everything I was going to say. It’s about time that conservatives play the media game well.
I’m not saying I don’t believe him. I certainly do. I’m not saying that there isn’t something to be gained here. I AM saying to be careful because this could well be bigger than sexual “impropriety” and could conceivably . . . not saying it is, or it will, but possibly . . . it could involve real perversions that could be difficult to back away from.
And those on the left keep telling him to shut up. Everyone has this image of a naked little Rahm hollering threats.
So far, I like him.
“It’s about time that conservatives play the media game well.”
We need many more.
Massa seems to be playing the “scorched earth” card .
To be used, then thrown away ;-)
Exactly how I see it.
Massa's only value to patriots is that - in his rage - he is exposing the Left's extemist plan to jam down people's throats the overthrow of the Constitution. He probably hoped to be an 'insider' in the coup and finds himself holding his pendulum in his flaccid hand.
If this health care bill passes, it will take incredible push-back to rescind this power-grab. Is the country up to it?
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