As I noted last night, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) has now accused House Democrats of whipping up the sexual harassment charge to force him out of the House to pave the way for passing Health Care Reform. He directly accused Steny Hoyer of lying. And Hoyer has now flatly denied it. (It does seem clear that Hoyer never even said what Massa claimed he did.)
But the most surreal part of Massa’s lengthy radio monologue over the weekend was his tour d’horizon of frat boy antics during his career in the Navy. And one case of what seems to have been an earlier accusation of an improper advance during his Navy days. To put it as antiseptically and briefly as possible, Massa says he walked in on a bunkmate masturbating and jocularly offered to help him. This apparently led to a misunderstanding and the bunkmate requesting different quarters.
Each of these incidents alone make sense. But even in Massa’s recounting they do paint a picture of a guy with a history of really unfortunate misunderstandings of joking sexual remarks.
The whole thing is starting to remind me of this classic Onion piece.
