Massa Crazy But Right?

There are two competing narratives the media is perpetrating about former Congressman Eric Massa. First, he's a loon, a nut, and totally embarrassed himself on Glenn Beck. Second, more and more, they are finding agreement with what he said. I suppose the old adage is true, "just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean you're wrong."

First, here's John Kass.

Naturally, the White House denies the naked shower episode ever happened, and
President Barack Obama's spokesman is basically calling Massa a nutball.

But can't both be true? The naked and the nutball?

Massa denies he sexually harassed anyone, but he now says he did engage in "tickle fights" with male staffers and may have sent inappropriate texts.

So of the nutball thing I am convinced, after watching his interview with Glenn Beck on Tuesday, one of the worst hours of TV in the history of the world, even worse
than "A Very Brady Christmas."

"I'm going to show you a lot more than tickle fights," Massa warned a horrified Beck. "This will look like an orgy from ‘Caligula

Yet, he also says this.

But I believe him because I've had a similar argument with Rahm before he was White House chief of staff, right here in the Tribune newsroom, Rahm jabbing his finger near my chest.

It really was just a finger, honest. And happily, Rahm was fully clothed.

So, Kass thinks Massa is a freak but he also believes the Rahm shower story because he had his own variation.

Here's Politico.

At least one part of former Rep. Eric Massa’s hourlong, train-wreck interview with cable-television host Glenn Beck rang true to his fellow House freshmen Tuesday: the grim description of the intense and time-consuming fundraising pressures that dominate the lives of junior members.

So, it was disastrous but...

Congressmen spend between five and seven hours a day on the phone, begging for
money,” Massa (D-N.Y.) told Beck, before launching into a detailed account of the arduous fundraising routine — a demeaning process, Massa said — that includes filling out call sheets, detailing the amount of money raised per hour and conferring with fundraising coaches who advise them on how to wring even more money out of donor calls.


“I don’t have the life’s energy to get up at 5 in the morning and work until midnight [and] spend five hours on the phone begging for money,” said Massa, estimating that he worked 120 hours a week as a congressman. “I have completely abandoned my family for five years.”


To his fellow members of the Class of 2008 — many of whom are also looking to solidify their grip on newly won seats while convincing party leaders of their political chops —Massa’s account was all too familiar.

I've gone through my own progression about Massa. I don't know what he did toward his staffers and I don't care. A lot of it appears to be inappropriate but none of it illegal. It's not any more inappropriate than confronting someone naked in a shower. So, why are we judging Massa.

His interview with Glenn Beck appears to be disastrous because Beck said it was. Beck dismissed the thought that discussing campaign finance reform would have any probative value even though it appears that most freshman agree with Massa that far too much time is spent raising funds.

The whole thing is fairly despicable. The media is taking its turns putting Massa through the gauntlet all while proclaiming that on most points he was accurate. Then, they turn around and say he's a disaster. The man appears to be a walking disaster all while revealing previously unknown truths about the halls of power all at once.