Let's move on from Massa controversy


By Jonathan Mann, CNN
Officials are investigating allegations that Eric Massa made unwanted sexual comments to male Congressional colleagues
Officials are investigating allegations that Eric Massa made unwanted sexual comments to male Congressional colleagues

(CNN) -- America watched a career collapse this week, in a bizarre cloud of sex, scandal and stories of angry naked men that's overshadowing everything else in U.S. politics.
"Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?" asked outgoing Democratic lawmaker Eric Massa.
Massa has resigned from Congress. At first, his announcement didn't get much attention outside of Washington or his home district in New York state. The House of Representatives has 435 members and every year some inevitably choose to leave.
But then Massa said he was actually pushed out by his own party in of a clash over President Obama's policies.
Massa singled out White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a powerful figure in the capital famous for his fiery temper. Massa says he endured Emanuel's wrath in a gymnasium locker room, over a vote Massa had cast.
"I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emmanuel, not even with a towel wrapped around his 'tush,' poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me."
The White House has tried to distance itself from the Massa mess. An aide told the Washington Post anonymously that Emanuel says the shower encounter "did not happen."
But within days, the whole country learned that Massa was confronting something very different; an official investigation that he made unwanted sexual comments and approaches to several male Congressional employees.
He went on television to explain, but his words to broadcaster Glenn Beck were even more damaging.
"They're saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe."
CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen summed it up so well, let's leave the last word to him:
"I don't know if this guy needs media help or mental help, it is probably both. I think he's sort of a mess. In some ways he's become a political corpse. The best thing we can do is put a sheet over him and move on. "
Yes, let's.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jonathan Mann