ANOTHER ONE: Massa will resign, his office confirms. “The pending resignation will feed a developing narrative in D.C., amid this and the Charlie Rangel mess: That Dems, after taking power in 2006 by running against GOP corruption, are sinking into the same ethics swamp they had vowed to drain.”
UPDATE: Reader Jed Skillman speculates:
Just as we are wondering if that Utah Democratic congressman’s brother was given a lifetime federal judgeship in consideration of support for the healthcare bill, what are the odds that Democratic Congressman Massa’s sexual tendencies were made public to punish him for voting “no”? Barney Frank has done worse and he’s a committee chairman. Could this be the kind of persuasion the White House or Congressional leadership is using?
You’re a lawyer, Glenn. What is the legal term for using a threat of public exposure to extort something?
Could there be a pattern of this sort of thing emerging?
I don’t know. Perhaps some investigative journalists will look into it.