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.
Exactly. We're not touching him with a pair of tweezers, never mind "embracing" him. Massa is a Democrat. It doesn't matter if he goes on Glenn Beck, climbs up into the lighting, and throws handfuls of poo down onto the set. He's a wacko, but he's the Democrat's wacko, not the conservative's wacko. I'm looking forward to Glenn Beck -- it should be pretty amusing.
“Plus, every single reason Massa gave for resigning is probably true to one degree or the other.”
Probably, but he is still a left wing snake in the grass ;-)
He may be dead on, but Massa is no conservative darling. Yes, Beck may have been conned over, but he goes for the shock factor, Limbaugh, not so.
In my opinion he is not anywhere near as bad as Obama and his ilk. This guy did attend the US Naval Academy and did serve honorably in the military for 20+ years. He is at least familiar with the concepts of duty and honor. That puts him light years ahead of the average ‘Rat politico in the credibility department my view.
Nonetheless, I do not at all dismiss everything that Massa has said. Sure this guy may have changed what he says, but first, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. He certainly could have used cancer as a cover for quiting and then realized that in fact the Democrats were shafting him and then turned on them. Also, it could be for a little bit of both reasons. That is, he was thinking of not running again and then the Dems strategized to get him out sooner.
Sure, I don't implicitly trust Massa, but I do think there is some veracity to what this guy is claiming simply because it squares with all the evidence of how team Obama has been operating. They have appointed a Obamacare opponent's bother to a federal judgeship. They have bribed many others. No. Massa's story in many ways is consistent with other known facts.
Just because he is a liberal progressive doesn’t mean his treatment by Rahmbo wasn’t offensive. It fits the pattern, and this guy is going to go to war against those that booted him from office. Sometimes politics and war make strange bedfellows.
The claim that Massa is being taken down for voting against health care
>>>
Sure we see this all the time from the Donks, one of their guys slips up and they close ranks and force him to resign.
Rangal comes to mind.
Studds.
Bill Clinton
Levin.
Timothy Geithner
Alan Mollohan...........................................
A Blue on Blue Drive-By that’s all!
There is no honor amoungst thieves, and that does not shock anyone. Massa is no “darling of the Conservatives”. He is a carnival barker selling tickets to see the bearded lady’s dirty laundry.
It is about government authoritarian control of individual health care, an entirely individual responsibility, having no enumerated power in the Constitution, and which could be made competitively priced by exterminating lawyers (who finance the Democratic party) along with transportability and a few other things, and which this politician maybe opposes.
Nobody was duped by Eric Massa. Rather give him some press to show the ugliness of the Left. The ugliness of Rahm Emmanuel, a genuine human creep. The ugliness of the Marxist, authoritarian, Obama agenda. The ugliness of Democrats, nihilists who only live for power over others.
The US Federal Government could be slashed 40-50 percent and we would all be happier.
someone with a sense of duty and honor does not speak like that nor allow his staffers to speak to him like that - He is my critter and not to be trusted period - he is deflecting - period - and Beck et al have bought it
Massa has problems, well, lots of problems but I am sure he is 100% correct about Rahm and company. If you are public figure you can not lie to the press or they will eat you alive! He must the truth and take his lumps.
It's a little more than that. It's a way for the right to smear the Obama administration as the health care game enters the final inning. Hell, for all we know, some conservatives put him up to it. That's politics.
It makes sense. It's so close to voting time on health care, there's no time to know what's true and what isn't. It's a nice easy way to create some bad noise for the Obama administration.
I’m just always astounded about how judgemental Dims can be, isn’t free and easy sex with any gender acceptable and encouraged? Don’t they celebrate Godlessness and immorality?
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
And if it had been Karl Rove naked poking people in the shower the lefties would believe it like gospel.
I could care less about Massa, but you can’t ignore the hillarious statements he made, true or not.
Unfortunately, he is one less “no” vote for health crimes.
Perhaps Massa is really ill, and wants to climb out of the gutter before he dies? One never knows what goes on in the hearts of man, particularly democrats going down...literally and otherwise. This one doesn’t want to go down alone, and I don’t blame him. Let him shake up the establishment, and then, let the chips fall wherever.
Nobody’s “embracing” him or his politics.
We ARE however gladly giving him a voice to explain how evil, ruthless and corrupt the Demo Party has become.
Why not? It's free. It creates bad press for Obama and the DEMs, and by the time anyone gets at the truth, whatever it may be, the health care vote will be history.
Beck seems like a blubbering fool to me, not very bright. Maybe it's an act, I don't know. But the others, especially Limbaugh, understand the game, and I am sure see this as a no-brainer. It's a nice easy way to create bad mojo for the DEMs.
First, the author of the article says:
“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.”
Then the author of the article says:
“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.”
Ok, author of article, you can’t have it both ways. Methinks you lie like a dog to put forth your own twist on this story, it being, that Massa is a liar, but it appears you are a liar too author. Seems to be a common trait among Dems.
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