Resigning House Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) unloaded yesterday! In a radio address, Massa goes into detail about sexual harassment charges against him and blames Rahm Emanuel and the Democratic leadership for his resignation. Massa says that the leadership and Rahm are gunning for him because he would not vote for the health care bill.
Here is an audio sample of Massa’s interview where he makes the charge against the leadership:
Massa wasn’t finished there. Here is what he had to say about Rahm Emanuel:
From The Hill:Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) is taking some harsh parting shots at the White House on his way out of office.
Massa, who is stepping down amid allegations of sexual harrassment, said that Emanuel is a ruthless tactician who would “sell his mother” for a vote.
“Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn,” Massa said in a radio interview. “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 also details a spat he had with Rahm Emanuel while naked in the Congressional gym [click over to Real Clear Politics for the audio clip]!
Massa also accused Democratic leaders of forcing him out of office because he had voted against healthcare reform.“This administration and this House leadership has said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this healthcare bill,” he said. “And now they’ve gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots.”
Massa has insisted that the sexual harassment charges were the result of him having a “salty tongue”. During the interview he gave detail of the incident:
From Fire Dog Lake: “On new Year’s Eve, I went to a staff party. It was actually a wedding for a staff member of mine; there were over 250 people there. I was with my wife. And in fact we had a great time. She got the stomach flu,” he said.
Massa explained that he then danced first with the bride, who was not identified, and then with a bridesmaid. He said multiple cameras recorded the incident.
“I said goodnight to the bridesmaid,” Massa continued. “I sat down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them by the way bachelors.”
“One of them looked at me and as they would do after, I don’t know, 15 gin and tonics, and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne, a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid and 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, ‘Well, what I really ought to be doing is fracking you.’ And then [I] tossled the guy’s hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where it wasn’t right for me to be there. Now was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely. Am I guilty? Yes.”
Massa is hinting that he may recind his resignation.
From Roll Call:“I’m not going to be a Congressman as of 5 o’clock [Monday] afternoon. The only way to stop that is for me to rescind my resignation. That’s the only way to stop it. And the only way that’s going to happen is if this becomes a national story.”
I see a lot of truth in what Massa says. As to him being the deciding vote on health care, I have to say that is a stretch. If that were the case, the Nancy Pelosi would have scheduled a House vote for one minute after his resignation! However, picking off a couple of no votes would seem like something Obama, Nancy and Harry would stoop to.
If Massa is being deliberately set up, then he should rescind his resignation and get his fellow freshmen House Reps to come clean on any undue pressure being exerted by the leadership.
I am sure we will be hearing more and more about this story as the day wears on.
