Politico carries GOP water (again) on the Eric Massa mess
Dick Cheney’s favorite online news outlet tries hard to advance the Republican narrative on the Eric Massa story today, with two misleading headlines, including the ominous news that “Nancy Pelosi aide knew of Eric Massa concerns in October” !!! But when you actually read the story, it turns out that the allegations they’re teasing have nothing to do with groping, tickling or otherwise boorish sexual behavior. The key passages:
… There is no indication that anyone in Pelosi’s office knew of allegations that Massa, a Democrat from New York, had improper physical contact with aides until February, when Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s office was informed of the accusations and shared them with a senior Pelosi staffer.
Really, you could stop reading the Politico story right there. But what fun would that be? Read more
TurboTax abandons Beck
Just two days after their campaign starts, TurboTax becomes the 120th advertiser to exit the Glenn Beck show. In the UK, he’s running with no ads at all, which is almost as shocking as the fact that Glenn Beck’s show is running in the U.K. … So who’s still with him? Hint: think “gold” and “Jesus,” which in a strict, Biblical sense, is not a great combination…
Really, RNC?
Irony alert: the party that covered for Mark Foley is going after Democrats on Eric Massa
A new ad from the Republican National Committee brings new meaning to the word “chutzpah.” The ad attacks Nancy Pelosi, trying to blame her for the troubles of Charlie Rangel and of all people, Eric Massa, both of whom Pelosi’s team set aside. Meanwhile, Republicans have hung on to every one of their ethically challenged members, from David Vitter (prostitution) to Larry Craig (Massa-like behavior in an airport men’s room) to John Ensign, about whom the New York Times has a new report, detailing his attempts to find a job for his lover’s husband (after his parents’ pay-off to the hubby failed to sufficiently make nice,) just this morning. Here’s the ad:
Message: let’s bring the Abramoff crowd back to power. That’ll fix everything … Read more
Flashback video: Eric Massa debates Duncan Hunter Jr. on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
Watch his body language during the debate on CNN, in which the then-New York congressman ironically touts the values of “honesty and integrity.” At the end, he throws in a total non-sequitur, soliciting Hunter to buy him a beer:
Mother has the votes on healthcare
If the healthcare vote in the House were held today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi would have the votes to pass it. Read more
Eric Massa: nasty in the Navy, too?
Photo of Eric Massa (seated) and his son, from his campaign website.
At some point, don’t we have to start asking whether Eric Massa’s behavior is more sinister and predatory than funny? This guy appears to have been a menace to male colleagues for a long, long time … From The Atlantic comes a story that Massa once dragged his own son into lurid allegations of unwanted advances by a man named Sanford Dickert, his onetime campaign manager, who wound up suing him; allegations Massa’s former Naval shipmates found particularly ironic because:
According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. “Stuart’s at the edge of the bed,” Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, “and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, ‘You’ll have to get one of my special massages.’ He called them ‘Massa Massages.’” Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch’s roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time. Read more
Poll: Crist’s loss is Meek’s gain
A couple of new, if problematic polls, find good news in the decline of Charlie Crist … for Kendrick Meek. Read more
The Rubiolution will be televised
March sure is early to be going on television for a primary in August … which tells me Team Rubio is at least somewhat concerned that AMEXgate and the $134 back wax might begin to stick. Here’s their attempt to interrupt the narrative, with a gauzy biographical ad that contains a curious message at a time when voters want Washington to work together, rather than fight like fish wives: “we need Republicans in Washington who will stand up to Barack Obama, not join him…” as if Obama is the king of the pod people. The message is aimed squarely at the Obama deranged GOP primary voters Rubio is already wildly popular with (note the paean to “defeating radical islam,”) and hits most of the requisite winger notes. Really, all that’s missing is a guest shot of Tom Tancredo and some drivel about a border fence. Watch:
Team Crist’s response after the jump. Read more
Oh please, make it stop … the Eric Massa revelations keep coming
The Washington Post has what’s sure to be just the beginning of the Nasty Massa stories:
Not long after Eric Massa joined Congress in January 2009, several male staff members began to feel uncomfortable with the sexually loaded language their boss routinely used, according to accounts relayed to the House ethics committee.
As the months passed, rumors began to circulate in the office that the married New York Democrat had sexually propositioned young male staffers and interns — allegations, according to two sources with knowledge of the inquiry, that included Massa groping at least two aides. Read more
Rubio fires back on the back wax, takes in-coming on ‘turkeys’
The Rubio-Crist groom-off continues, with Team Rubio finally answering the burning question: what can a man get for $133.75 at chichy Churcill’s Barbershop in Miami? Rubio insists that in his case, it was not a back waxing:
“Marco paid $20 for a haircut with a razor on the neck, and he bought some items that went into a silent auction, including gift certificates,”Alex Burgos, a spokesman for Rubio said in a statement to Live Shots.” Charlie Crist’s obsession with making up things about other people’s grooming habits is bizarre for anyone, especially the sitting governor of Florida. It’s also a shame he cares more about what’s in Marco’s personal bills than what’s in the stimulus bill he supported.”
Take that, tan man! Read more
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