Eric Massa (D-NY) is set to resign today. If he has not yet tendered his resignation, he should not do so.
At least not if he is being forced out because of his health care vote, which is what he alleged over the weekend in a radio interview, as reported by Hotline On Call (emphasis mine):
Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation.
“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.”
Massa addressed rumors circulating on blogs about his personal behavior, including incidents during an informal Navy ceremony in ’83 on the USS New Jersey and one that occurred in a state room later during his Navy career. He insisted he had done nothing uncommon, insisting his sin was foul language.
A complaint before the House ethics committee, he said, stemmed from a wedding Massa attended over New Years, when he made an inappropriate comment to an aide, according to Roll Call, which first reported the radio program.
Massa maintained his comments were inappropriate, but he blamed “political correctness” and accused Dems of a setup. Massa voted against health care legislation in Nov., and he has not been a reliable vote for Dem leadership. That, he said, has put a target on his back.
“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….
“I was set up for this from the very, very beginning,” he added.
“The leadership of the Democratic Party have become exactly what they said they were running against.” ….
“There is not a single member of the Democratic freshman class whi is going to vote against this health care bill now that they’ve got me,” he said. “Eric Massa’s probably not going to go back to Congress, because the only way I would go back there would be as an independent. A pox on both parties.”
Here is Massa’s office contact information. Call or send an e-mail asking him not to resign:
Washington DC Office: 1208 Longworth House OfficeBuildingWashington, DC
20515, Phone: (202) 225-3161, Fax: (202) 226-6599, email here
I spoke with Massa’s office. His resignation is scheduled to go into effect at 5 p.m. The person I spoke with did not know if it could be reversed. More calls could not hurt.
As reported by Roll Call, Massa over the weekend said he would consider rescinding his resignation: “Several times during the broadcast Massa raised the prospect of rescinding his resignation if national news media picked up on his story of being railroaded out of office by Democratic leaders.”
Pick up the phone and call.
Update: Wow!
Rep. Massa describes a confrontation with Emanuel in a shower: “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.”
Update 3-10-2010: So, it turns out Massa is sticking to his Rahm-in-the-shower story, but the rest is murky. Had Massa been a team player, there would have been no investigations and whispering campaign against him. But was he “forced out” due to his opposition to Obamacare? Depends on what the meaning of “forced out” is. And I still wish he had not resigned because he would have been a vote against Obamacare.
——————————————–
Related Posts:
Uh Oh, Cats and Dogs Getting Along
Obama and Rahm Emanuel: When Will You Stop Being Surprised?
Deception and Tyranny Key To Health Care Reform
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
I wish that I could say that this was even remotely surprising. The Democrats will stop at nothing to get this done, and this is the latest example.
Meanwhile Barney Frank weathered news of his boy friend's running a prostitution service out of his Capitol Hill apartment because his votes were in the politically correct place.
http://bit.ly/z5KrK
I understood he wantd to resign to spare his family the embarrassment of an ethics investigation. And yet, he grants an interview in which he details the nature of the ethics charge (making a drunken joke about making a pass at a guy sitting next to him at a New Year's Eve wedding reception).
If his version of the events is accurate, I don't understand the need to resign since everything is now out in the open. What am I missing?
I don't trust Massa either way. He originally voted No on Deathcare but was rumored to be leaning Yes this time. He could be orchestrating this entire mess to come back and vote Yes and help get it passed. I don't doubt his harsh words about Emanual but Massa is a D and no D can be trusted. Heck, 70% of the R's can't be trusted.
You were ahead of the curve as usual! 🙂
The story's got legs: Massa vs Rahm: It felt like a Scott Brown moment
I imagine there will be more Rahmbo stories forthcoming as the Dems crack up.
We already have too much information in some areas. This is where we get Dem transparency? In the House gym?
Massa will be on Beck's show Tuesday, Fox News 5:00PM.
http://washingtonindependent.com/78652/eric-massa-to-rip-democrat-on-glenn-becks-fox-news-show
I didn't vote for him nor would I, primarily because he wants a single-payer system. But I will support him if wants to clean out all the corruption in DC in BOTH parties.
…
Me, urging a D to say in office? In view of what's at stake, I called anyway. Lines were busy. His message box is full.
Eric Massa has a screw loose.
One of our local radio hosts discovered some time ago about Massa's long history of being sexually inappropriate. He chose not to mention it during the election because he didn't have confirmation, but now that Massa has again been accused of the same thing, he believes the stories are true.
This man is desperate to get the spotlight off his behavior and instead become a martyr. It's a shame that so many people, including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, are buying into it.
Bluecove: I'm not sure Limbaugh and Beck, and the "many people" are buying into it as much as using the allegations to besmirch the administration and the health care bill. One does not have to believe Massa to repeat his claims and keep the story/inferences/damage alive. It takes Dems off their message when they have to respond to Massa. If everyone in the media (MSM or not) blew him off, the Dems could stay on message (today's was about lack of competition leading to increases in premiums). Instead, the questions anytime a Dem leader meets the press will be about Massa.
ThreeSheets:
The end never justifies the means. Massa may be saying the right things at the right moment, but he's an opportunist. Not to mention a progressive who wants single payer, and once threatened to ram it down his constituents' throats because it was "best for them." I know this because until recently I was one of them.
He's a phoney, and anything he says is tainted. He could end up doing us more harm than good.
Obama hasn't had a WH news conference for the WH press since July and the pressure is building up like a infected wound filled with pus. Can't wait to see how long the WH Press Corps continues its "patience" with the artful dodger as he jukes and jinks his way from day to day.
Massa is one more putrefying issue waiting to burst out—even well-trained pressies are beginning to want to bite their master.
Rush didn't get to where he's at, and remain there for the past 22 years, by buying into a phony. Beck is responding to Massa's claims of corruption in politics.
Like bluecove, the party is now implying that Beck is a loon.
Yes, Massa is an opportunist, and he loves that limelight way too much. But I do believe him when he says his party pushed him out.
Can't wait for Glenn Beck's show tomorrow. Does anyone think there's a chance Massa won't be on?
…
kitty:
I'm not implying Beck is a loon. I like him. I'm just afraid that association with Massa will hurt him, because the man is an unrepentant progressive.
Let Beck worry about that. He knows what he's doing.
The half-vast left-wing are always trying to discredit and diminish the people I admire: Limbaugh, Palin and Beck just to name a few. They can say all they want; I know where they're coming from. It doesn't affect my opinion of Limbaugh, Palin or Beck.
…