Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY)
Suddenly the Eric Massa story is everywhere. I don’t know what finally set him off. He seemed pretty resigned about the whole thing just a couple of days ago. From Hotline this AM:
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 admits he made an “inappropriate” remark to a male staffer at a New Year’s party, which led to a House ethics investigation, but he claims he was set up by Democratic leaders because of his votes against the health care bill and other administration initiatives. Massa had harsh words for White House enforcer Rahm Emanuel:
“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.”
As for Steny Hoyer’s claim that he talked to Massa about the ethics inquiry,
“Steny Hoyer has never said a single word to me at all, never, not once,” Massa said. “Never before in the history of the House of Representatives has a sitting leader of the Democratic Party discussed allegations of House investigations publicly, before findings of fact. Ever.”
“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.”
The New York Daily News has even more:
“Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn,” he said. “He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”
Massa alleges that Emanuel ripped into him a number of times over votes, including in the House 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,” said Massa.
Here is some audio from the radio interview:
The latest thing I heard is that Massa is going to go on Glen Beck’s show tomorrow–that’s what Dave Wiegel says anyway.
Rep. Eric Massa’s (D-N.Y.) scorching attack on Democrats — while a lot of attention is going to a silly story about Rahm Emanuel, he accuses his party of trying to “shove the [health care] bill down our throats” — will be amplified tomorrow with a full-hour interview on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show.
That may be pushing things a little too far. I’ll update if I get more info. Please add your own links in the comments.
Filed under: General | Tagged: health care reform bill, Politics, rahm emanuel, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) |
The Confluence 
I have to admit, I’d like to have this guy as my rep. He’s a lot more colorful than Ed Markey.
Thanks BB for putting this up front. But please not Glen Beck…almost anyone else.
I hope it’s a false rumor.
Massa is mad though!
I added an update. Massa plans to go on Beck’s show tomorrow for an hour-long interview.
wow. well I hate Beck but I may have to watch. Wish he’d go on someone else’s show but where would he go KO? now that’s a laugh
That’s what I heard–the entire hour, I didn’t catch if it was today or tomorrow.
Has Massa rescinded his resignation?
In a fight you use whatever tools available. If it’s Glen Beck, then so be it. Massa is too intelligent and savy to besidelined by the likes of Beck. If Beck can be front paged at RBO (The Real Barack Obama) then he seemingly gets it right sometimes.
Massa will be on Glenn Beck tomorrow, it seems.
Just heard from Glen Beck that Massa will be on his show for the hour tomorrow. Sounds like he was too frazzled to do it today.
Dissenting Justice asks, is Eric Mass a lunatic, a victim, or both?
Can you imagine Glen Beck and Tweety interviewing someone together, or each other? They are lunatics. I like Massa for now.
Right on schedule, the NYT mag. is running a piece on Rahm this weekend.
I am glad he is speaking out. Not one democrat has had the balls to stand up and be counted against backtrack and his bunch.
I have a firm belief I may not win but you will remember me.
You go Rep Massa make them remember you and I really hope you win.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
I’m with you helenk. I applaud his courage.
I’m with him too! Finally a democrat who is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore!
I wonder if Massa got a call from Wes Clark? & wasn’t it because of Wes that Massa got into Democratic politics in the first place?
As I recall, he’d been Wes’s XO when Wes was SACEUR, and it was because Wes had flat out ordered him back to the States (after Massa’s wife had become concerned about his health and had gone to Wes with her worries) that his cancer was diagnosed originally.
And later didn’t Massa–a Republican at that time– hold some relatively minor position in Dubya’s administration, and was fired after he was seen having a friendly conversation with his former CO on a DC street at the time said former CO–a very liberal Democrat– was running for president?
He wasn’t fired. He was ordered to stop going to Clark’s rallies. He told them that his loyalty for Clark was more important than their job and resigned. Later on he ended working for Clark’s campaign – and I am sure that it’s how he came to run for Congress.
*son of the devil’s spawn*
bwahahaaa!
😈
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It is funny. Massa seems to have lost it. I wonder if Rahm will try to muscle him again before the Beck show tomorrow?
I can’t get that image out of my head. Rahm and Massa in the Congressional showers buck naked, and Rahm poking his finger into Massa’s chest. Guess this is how things still get done in Washington. No wonder women are missing out.
I guess it’s not as bad as when LBJ used to make people talk to him while he was sitting on the toilet.
you got that right…all those naked guys and no women….isn’t that China?? LOL!
Bostonboomer, That remark about LBJ making people talk to him while he was on the toilet. YUK! This only happens in the United States….Can you imagine the Queen of England asking someone to do this….LOL!
Pretty sure Obama and Rahm are coordinating this good cop bad cop routine all the way, including all this nonsense in WaPo about the friction between the two. As long as the progressives keep directing their anger and frustration at Rahm, BO is safe for elections. That’s BO’s priority. He’s following that Corporate America dictum…the first thing you do when you start a new job is begin positioning for your next job.
I’m a little confused on his 5pm resignation. Did he officially do it, or did he back out? I’m assuming he has officially resigned. Though I wish he wouldn’t.
There was a DC “insider” on the Mark Thompson radio show (lefty show) — can’t remember his name and I was driving so couldn’t write it down, but he said there was bad blood between Massa and Rahm dating back to when Rahm was in the House.
How much more could he “blow the lid off?” I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if he really goes on with Beck.
[audio src="http://media.eyeblast.org/newsbusters/static/2010/03/2010-03-07-NBC-CMS-Rather.mp3" /]
Outrageous. Sounds like it was on Chris Matthews show. What’s the frequency Daniel. I swear these people’s idea of race relations is stuck in the 60s.
Dan Rather is always using colorful Texas expressions. He probably didn’t make the black-watermelon connection before he said it.
I live in Texas, they sell alot of watermelons on the side of the roads. LOL! Maybe it was an innocent remark….since he is a Texan.
Here’s what he said:
MSNBC cut out the part after watermelons.
Dan’s never ending quest of folksiness has landed him on the wild side.
Why would MSNBC edit it?
Because he said “watermelons” and “Obama” in the same paragraph.
Because it sounds worse when it’s edited. I’ve heard that expression before and not directed toward a black man. It’s more general than that, thank goodness.
I heard Beck announce an hour-long sitdown with Massa for tomorrow’s TV broadcast. Apparently, the man blasted the entire Administration on the radio today.
I know someone here commented that they had met Massa personally and found the current ethics investigation questionable. One of the writers at NQ also confirmed that sentiment [had met Massa and spoken to him on the phone]. She, too, finds the question of a political smear campaign not out of the question.
I also think Massa’s connection to Wesley Clark works in his favor, in terms of being credible. There aren’t too many people that don’t respect the General. Associations of that caliber is a clue to Massa’s character.
I wish him well. I suspect this will not be pretty.
I’m thinking Massa knows he’s not long for this world, so he’s going to do his best to blow the lid off this rottenness while he’s still able–and of course Wes has his back.
I hope they both avoid planes as much as possible–especially small planes.
The fact that Steny Hoyer made remarks linking Massa with Mark Folley – without once even talking to Massa confirms my initial suspicion they were railroading him.
Also, when wondering about his decision to resign, remember, he is in NY – and sees the daily blows the media is landing on Paterson – at the behest of the same people.
I am hoping he rescind his resignation and blocks the HCR.
Again, for credibility – this is someone who told his Bushie boss to shove it – he will support Clark no matter what. And came to DC the day of the RBC to speak to our rally. He was a consistent supporter of single payer and every progressive issue.
Apparently the showers run-in happened after the stimulus bill. Massa voted against it. When he voted against the cap and trade, Massa said yesterday, Rahm called and they both traded salty sailor insults.
The latest thing started after his no vote on healthcare and heated up in the last few days due to upcoming vote.
Massa voted against the stimulus, cap and trade, and health care. And he attended the RBC meeting? wow, he is a great guy in my book.
This is why I think he resigned today – he thinks he can really kill the bill from outside than from inside. From inside, he has just one vote. From outside, he has the megaphone, provided by the friendly Fox and talk radio. He knows Hillary Dems are with him too.
Wish I could vote for him!
If everyone who supports Massa for speaking the truth to this Admin. then send the man a buck. It won’t be a lot of money. But it can be a lot of support in this tough atmosphere. Show you support him.
I had collected some of the stranger facts in the way this story broke
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/give-them-hell-eric-massa/
where did it go?
Just heard Massa is also scheduled to appear on Larry King tomorrow night.
This story has the potential to blow things up for the Dem leadership.
And I for one will be very happy if he DOES blow it up. Then all we have to do is get rid of Brazil, Pelosi and the rest of them that screwed us over in 2008.
Let payback begin and the idea of sending Massa a dollar apiece is GREAT…Let’s do it.
I am sorry that he is associating himself with Glenn Beck but sometimes when people are really pissed off they make decisions that, in retrospect, weren’t so good. I wish he would give the Dem leadership and the WH thugs a big “F” you and stay in Congress but when the resources of the Fed Govt are committed to ruining you, the financial cost of defending your self can ruin you and your family. This is especially true if he is dealing with a recurrence of his lymphoma.
I agree!
By going on the Beck Show he IS giving the dems what you wish for namely a big “F” you. He knows exactly what he is doing. He knows FOX has the television audience, and he knows FOX has no incentive to cover up, cut off and voice over what he has to say, I think it is the strategic move for him to make, and it is only one of several stops he will be making along the way. I would say, the Chicago thugs may have met their match. Extortion works best when it is done with a wink and a nod and there is no complaining victim. If I were advising him what to do in this instance I would tell he hold your nose if you like but by all means go on Beck. He is a Navy Man and would understand what I mean when I say that is firing for effect. My prediction is this will hurt the White House as much as the infamous Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback. Somewhere along the line, the public at large may even catch on. Wouldn’t that be grand.
“…when the resources of the Fed Govt are committed to ruining you, the financial cost of defending your self can ruin you and your family.”
Yep–just ask Sarah Palin. I hope Massa lives long enough to write his own book.
As for Glen Beck, I can imagine a scenario where Beck tries to paint Obama as a Socialist and Massa blows that shite right out of the water. Almost makes me wish I hadn’t cancelled cable as of Nov. 2008.
I thought I read, upthread, that Massa responded to a suggestion, or question, that he tell his side of the story on Fox. His response, as I recall, was that he couldn’t contact them. From that I infer that Fox contacted him and he agreed to the interview. I think the guys a hero for taking any route to getting the story out and giving it legs.
well said. It is the message and no the medium that is critical here.
Maybe Rahm’s days are numbered after this….and there will be a huge dent in Obama’s image.
I hope Massa’s stays safe and doesn’t get sicker with all this stress he is under.
I served with Eric Massa in the Navy. Although I am a conservative, I have a lot of respect for him and very easily understand how his passion for a subject and his “salty” talk could set him up for someone wanting to claim harassment.