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.
Under other circumstances that is a democrat resume enhancer:
Eric Massa is a snake. But he is a brilliant snake.
I have to say, I was skeptical about jumping on this guy (no pun intended) because of the numerous allegations against him regarding sexual impropriety.
And the wind is caused by trees shaking back and forth.
Apropos.................
...just a liberal point of view to explain away the truth...
Sounds like he learned from the masters.
“Millions of conservatives have embraced a liberal who defies everything they stand for, and he has become the sweetheart of Beck and Limbaugh.”
I say BS. This conservative here still thinks Massa is a low life commie, socialist, liberal willing to sell out America. The author of this article didn’t have any material for today so he made up a bunch of crap. The whole thing about Massa is nothing more than amusing to conservatives.
Conservatives must beware of the Ides of March.
Lefties like Massa could be nothing more than assassins(diversions) out to destroy(divide) conservatives during Obama’s push for Health Care Control.
The Bandaid .
No we haven't. What nonsense.
“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.
Hey at least it is one less Democrat. Perhaps we should rejoice in that.
I don’t think any of us embrace him. He is a skunk, but I do think that he is no more a skunk than Obozo and staff. So he may be telling the truth here.
Besides, we need to be entertained.
Yes, we really do believe Rahm Emanual wanders around the locker room "nekkid".
Doesn't take Massa to tell us that.
He probably does pelvic thrusts to make his points too.
You really can't tell a story about Rahm that's too gross to believe ~ the man is a bully who will use any and all techniques to get his way, and it appears to be hereditary. His brother advocates killing babies who misbehave!
Not knowing much about Massa, I think that Rush, Beck, et al, were excited and encouraged by WHAT he said and not HIM personally. I think they (Rush & company) found an demorat who buttressed their arguments with passion and verve and could be easily understood by the public at large.
As to Mr. Massa, the charges seem VERY convenient for Odumbo and his gang, and serve as a visible warning to others who might “stray” from the socialist path.
More information on Massa is needed before I am willing to render a verdict on him or the response from the conservative side.
Either purposely or by accident Lonsberry misses the point. None of the people he mentions “loves” Massa. He gets on their shows because he is a rare RAT who airs the party’s dirty laundry. Rahmbo is a thug and here we have an insider willing to testify to it. The enemy of my enemy isnt necessarily my friend, but he does get airtime.
He didn't really need to make up a bunch of crap. He's dead on. Massa had three reasons for leaving the House last week. He's a flaming (maybe literally) liberal. Now he's the darling of Beck. I didn't listen to Rush yesterday but I know how easy it is to pull one over on Beck, so Massa is doing what he can do to earn the favor of conservatives (who he is ideologically opposite from).
The author has not been paying attention. Limbaugh and Beck and Hannity and others are not jumping on the Massa bandwagon thinking he is some conservative democrat being pushed out by Obama. They are jumping on the story for the same reason that you want to cover it up. Because of the way it shows Rhambo Emmanuel (and by extension Obama) as the true thugs they are.
Yes Massa is probably resigning because there is something nasty in his past that would be dredged up by this ethics investigation. What everyone is concentrating on is the thuggish behavior of Rhambo. Does anyone doubt the Congressional showerroom scene happened?
When I first heard his rant, I went searching the internet for a copy so I could send it to those I know who haven't turned against Obama yet.
But the locker room thing bothered me. I've been a men's locker room regular for more than half a century. I just came back from my gym. No guy I know would talk about missing curtains in the showers in his locker room. They simply do not exist; at least in any of the dozens of men's locker rooms I've been in. (Girls: I know you have them because in high school the visiting boys teams would use the girls locker room, at least when I was in high school.) And then he talked about how strange it was for him to have a political discussion with a naked man in his locker room. And I have to say I think it is more strange to notice how dressed or undressed someone is in the locker room. Those of us who discuss politics discuss politics. And once we get dressed we leave. Massa's story doesn't ring true, to me at least.
ML/NJ
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