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.
No, Massa dupes or duped those who call themselves Conservatives. True Conservatives see theough him. How/ He is a Democrat, that is all they need to know.
I never heard of the guy and have yet to give him a kiss, much less a hug.
What we are enjoying is the exposure of the viciousness of the left and the deliciousness of infighting among the dems.
And, if anybody’s paying attention, a liar.
__________
Why are all the liberals so surprised at the malcontent going on in their own party. It is a historical fact that thieves, pirates and gangsta’s eventually turn on each other and self-destruct...this den of thieves has been accumulating since 1964. Hopefully THIS TIME they will be sent scuttling back to Chicago to hide out like they did in the McCarthy era...they’re like the Islamofascists. Periodically they have to be slapped down so the world can rest a bit.
He didn’t con me. I like hearing him call Rahm the devil’s spawn. LOL. That much is true.
Rush likes his forthrightness in describing Rahm's style of politics. That's the extent of Rush's "trumpeting".
‘“Eric Massa is a brilliant, audacious snake.”
He ain’t fooling FReepers, and I doubt he is fooling any talk show guys either. He is a useful idiot, and WE will play him, not the other way around ;-)
This author is an idiot.’
Two dynamics are at work here. Massa is both protecting himself with this tactic, and he is engaging in “catch back” against Emmanuel and Pelosi, who he believes threw him under the bus.
The second dynamic is the reaction of Rush, Beck, et al. They are not praising the guy. They are using him to unilaterally disarm Emmanuel and the “Chicago way”. Any vote switchers now will be scrutinized to see whether they had some skeleton in their closet and Emmanuel will not be free to practice this disgusting form of politics without fear that he will be exposed for doing so.
These revelations about Rahm look like they could be a brilliant move by Massa. But their use by the conservative punditry is most definitely a brilliant strategic move against Obamacare.
If Massa is as brilliant and devious as this author states then why would he want to expose him so quickly?
There is opposition to the bill within the Dem party. Some believe it does not go far enough while others think it goes too far. The House bill contained the public option. The Senate bill does not. Many Obama deadlines have come and gone. The real question is how many Dems are willing to jump off the cliff with Obama.
I am in the camp that believes there will be a bill that is passed. The only question is what will be in it. The Dems are wrestling with that now and they have two weeks to come up with the answer.
Also, why haven't some of these people wired themselves and taped stuff that has been said by not only Rahm but Obama, etc? Makes one wonder just what stuff certain people have on Obama and company.
I agree on all counts.
Understood? Ha! The leadership already stated they didn't care if you lost your job during the next elections....just vote "yea".
This statement alone is a lie.
I am a woman, I've not spent any serious time in a men's locker room, but I did see the difference between the boy's and girl's version in high school, as you note, we had curtains, they didn't. I've seen college locker rooms, pro teams when the cameras go in to show us pre-game stuff, some after-game footage, I have never ever seen curtains or partitions of any kind in a men's locker room -- once upon a time I cleaned restrooms, I noted the ladies stalls had doors on them, the mens, nope, urinal right there as well.
In any kind of privacy discussion with my brothers, husband now, when I was younger I would ask them, "How can you just do that in front of other guys? Doesn't it bother you?" I have been told men/boys don't notice, don't look, there's no modesty question. Accepted -- and that is why this business of Massa and the lack of curtains in the House gym, I didn't understand the big deal he was making. Now, Rahm strolling in, literally butt nekkid, the poking a finger in the chest, to me that kind of power trip move, I wouldn't put past Rahm, but don't men walk around nekkid in locker rooms all the time? In full view of each other?? Is that really something that needs to be pointed out as so out of the ordinary??
or a dead fish
I don't think any conservatives have been duped by this assclown. We recognize him for the snake that he is. But at the same time, we also recognize that it is awfully convenient that his alleged sexual harassment of male staffers comes out in time to run him out of congress before he can vote against Obamacare again, and while he can still be replaced on the ballot in November. This doesn't make him a "darling" of the right, but we will still be happy to let him expose the hypocrisy and vitriol of the left.
My question to him, okay, I understand that, but then how many men's rooms, locker rooms, etc., has Massa been in since leaving the Navy, such that he still would expect shower curtains in the House gym?
Neither of us can answer each other -- but it would help the conversation, at any rate.
That is BULL. If he actually listened to Rush he would find his focus has never changed - it's on the infighting that is going on inside the 'RAT party from the top on down and Massa is merely the latest instance of it.
The three explanations are perfectly consistent with a man going through the process of working through denial.
I think its entirely possible that he found himself “owned” by Rahm and the Democratic party and that he thought he could eventually control his own destiny. They provided the money and support to get elected and in time he would have his own base that could lead to his independence. I am sure they had both a carrot and a stick.
Then the first health care bill put him in a position to be a pawn that would be sacrificed but he dodged the bullet because he was allowed to vote no PROVIDED he said the bill was too liberal. In other words a compromise that he could later spin to get conservative voters by saying he voted no and keep his liberal base by saying why he voted no.
All was well until Scott Brown comes along and there are not enough votes for health care, so he gets a visit from Rahm in the shower. Like a scene out of a Godfather movie, he was given a deal he could not refuse.
Could Massa be destroyed even if he was as clean as the white driven global warming snow? Of course. Was he clean ? Like all of us, no. Did they have dirt on him? Probably a prerequisite to get elected in the first place.
We have all seen what they can do when they want to destroy someone. Even Sara Palin was forced out.
Yes, I believe we have a mafia type organization running many of our congressmen are owned and Massa was one of them. I assume he is Italian descent and I assume they may have a fight on their hands because of the famous Italian temper/pride.
The author is an idiot. WE, however, are not.
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