Rep. Eric Massa (D, NY), who resigned yesterday, admits he drunkenly told a male aide he'd like to be "fracking" him. But he accuses Democratic leaders of blowing the incident out of proportion to force him from office because he was the "deciding" nay vote on health care. Conservatives have embraced him for exposing the Democrats' hardball tactics and are using the scandal to try and derail the health-care bill. How much of a problem is Massa now for President Obama's final push to pass health reform? (Watch a Fox report about Massa's accusations)
Dems played hardball with the wrong guy: Thanks to Massa, Obama and Rahm Emanuel's thuggish "Chicago way" of doing business in Washington "could be coming undone," says Glenn Beck at Fox News. The Democrats set out to "destroy" Massa for opposing ObamaCare, but it backfired. Instead, he's going to destroy them. This could be "a moment that decides the course of this nation."
"Is Eric Massa part of the problem or solution?"
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He's simply not believable: Massa's shifting story doesn't hold up to even the mildest scrutiny, says Daniel Stone in Newsweek. His timeline's all wrong, and he's hardly the "deciding vote" on health care. Massa's "fiery rant" is best explained as an attempt to leave office as "a martyr" instead of a sexual predator.
"Will health care really come down to one vote?"
His charges are devastating, even if false: "It's useless to debate whether Massa is right or not," says Tom Bevan in RealClearPolitics. Either way, his "no-holds-barred" blast at his fellow Democrats is a potential "disaster" for the party as it reinforces the "damaging narrative" that Obama and congressional leaders will do anything to pass the unpopular health-care bill.
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