President Obama’s spokesman is brushing aside allegations by a resigned New York congressman who says he was forced out by the administration and Democratic leaders because of his opposition to health care reform.
Interviewed on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the assertions Rep. Eric Massa made Sunday in a radio address in his home district in western New York.
Gibbs said, “I think this whole story is ridiculous. I think the latest excuse is silly and ridiculous.” He accused Massa of continually changing the reasons for leaving Congress. Massa, a Democrat whose resignation took effect Monday, is facing a harassment complaint from a male staffer.
I’m not sure what Gibbs means by an excuse. Massa’s been quite honest, it seems, in detailing the incident in question. At least I assume so, as nobody’s arisen to challenge his story.
There is a substantive question here that ought to be susceptible to confirmation one way or the other, and that is Massa’s claim that contrary to Steny Hoyer’s representation, he was never notified that he was under investigation for sexual harassment, learning instead of the charges over the internet.
The incident, as it’s laid out, seems somewhat less egregious than some of the antics of the Lion of the Senate, in whose name (until Scott Brown) the Democrats thought to push health care reform. Be that as it may, the takeaway is liable to be the image of naked genius Rahm Emanuel poking his finger into Democrats’ chests in the Congressional Health Club locker room. Freakin’ weird, that is.
Massa’s story is that he was considering resigning for health reasons, a course that he may have decided on in any event due to rumors that he was under investigation—for, he claims he thought, something to do with fundraising. He claims that he was blindsided by the nature of the allegations. If Mr. Gibbs can prove otherwise, then he ought to do it. If not, he should shut up.
And I think it’s going to be interesting to find out where former Deputy Chief of Staff to ex-Representative Massa Ron Hikel ends up.
UPDATE: Kathleen disagrees, but I think that we need to find out whether Hoyer or Massa is lying. One of them is. Weekly Standard agrees with Kathleen.
Bob Lonsberry says that Massa is a snake, and that may well be true, but he may not be the only snake in the nest.
Why do you Americans let little angry naked midgets to roam the halls of your capitol? This seems rather strange to me.