As a vocal proponent of a Public Option, I am on the record pushing this issue because I was under the assumption that it was "our job", as progressives to pressure our leaders through vocal support for progressive ideas and leaders. I have never advocated "throwing it all away", as it were, just because I didn't get my way. I think the term "holding my nose" would be the best descriptor of my position on the current form of the HCR legislation.
So when I heard the sigh of relief coming from "democratic sources" on Capitol Hill over the resignation of Rep. Eric Massa, it wasn't my gay-dar that was set off.
Now I don't know what happened, and how it came to this, but if this account is true...
Oh boy...
According to Massa, the sexual harassment complaint stemmed from an incident during a wedding on New Year’s Eve last year. Sometime soon after midnight, Massa said, a drunken male staffer made a lurid comment to Massa about dancing with one of the bridesmaids at the reception.
“A staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that,” Massa said. “And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and said, “Pal, what I really ought to be doing is fracking you.’ And then [I] tussled the guy’s hair, and left.”
Massa said that another staff member—disturbed by Massa’s statement—reported it to the House Ethics Committee. Massa said the staffer to whom he directed the comment never was involved with the complaint.
“That staff member never said to me he felt uncomfortable,” Massa said. “He never came to me, he never said a word to me. In fact, he never went to anybody.”
So Massa is resigning for using a colorful metaphor made famous on a Sci-Fi TV show on basic cable, brought to the ethics committee by a staffer not involved in the conversation, at a wedding reception?
How does this make sense?
Uh-oh...
But wait, it gets weirder.
Massa said he learned that a complaint had been filed against him Feb. 8 but that he believed it was only over a minor campaign finance issue. Massa said he only learned of the sexual harassment complaint after he announced he would not run for re-election on Wednesday over what he says is a fatal recurrence of cancer.
As for the charge that House Democrats set him up, Massa said he only came to belief after reading two articles on Sunday...
http://www.google.com/...
http://www.rollcall.com/...
Now, I will hold on passing judgment, and call on these two other staffers set the record strait.
But for all of those who believe in progressive causes, and feel that some within our own party have no intention of persuing true progressive change, I will leave you with this:
Massa also described a profanity-filled conversation he had with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel after he voted against the president’s health care legislation last year.
My question here, and the reason I have a problem with what I'm hearing about these turn of events is:
Why are they targeting Progressives like Massa, and not the true obstructionists like Stupak?
(Link to the original story here)
Update:
I am suprised at how quick many here are jumping to assume that this post is CT, or that I'm insinuating that this is about "sexual preference". But I am stunned at how so many are jumping to Rahm's defense (either implicitly, or explicitly).
Remember, Rahm apologizes to to the mentally disabled for his "retarded" remarks, but not to those whom he was actually referring to.
I'm just saying...
Update 2:
In the interest if expedience...
I have been called a "Retard" as is the implication here, A Conspiracy Theorist and, I guess, gullable would be a mild descriptor.
But I still don't see anybody telling me why I haven't heard anything about these tactics being used against the likes of Stupak, Lieberman or others of their kilt.
So I would like tp thank those who are now engaging in substantive discourse, be they in favor or not, concerning my diary.
I'm out of here, and will check back tonight when I get home from my first day on my new job that was created by the stimulus package that Eric Massa voted for.
Food for thought.