Eric Massa: Hello, sailor

Dana Milbank takes a look at Glenn Beck's ill-fated interview with former congressman Eric Massa:

Just seven minutes into Glenn Beck's hour-long interview of Eric Massa on Tuesday evening, things had already gone very wrong.

Conservatives had hopes that the now-former Democratic congressman from Upstate New York, who resigned abruptly under an ethics cloud, would deliver the goods about corruption and strong-arm tactics in the Obama White House and Congress. But instead, Massa served up an icky new confession.

"Now they're saying I groped a male staffer," he volunteered. "Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday."

The right wing thought it had stumbled upon a pot of gold in Massa's charge of strong-arm tactics by the House Democratic leadership. That lasted about a day, as Massa's story kept changing and getting weirder and more implausible. Somehow, when you're charged with sexually harassing male staffers, changing the subject to health care reform and claiming that Rahm Emanual argued with you while naked in the shower of the House gym doesn't seem like a coherent response. Last night, when Larry King asked Massa, "Are you gay?" Massa refused to answer and said the question was an insult to gay people. Huh? He also said, "Ask my wife. Ask my friends. Ask the ten thousand sailors I served with in the Navy." Oh, come on, we know sailors have a code of silence about that sort of thing.

WaPo reports here, here, here and here. Jonathan Capehart comments here. I don't remember seeing such overcoverage since the big blizzard. Presumably in this case the story will melt away faster than the snowbanks did, as Republicans look for better dirt. They haven't had a good week, considering also the furor over Liz Cheney's over-the-top smears against DOJ attorneys that has earned her denunciations even from conservatives. Keep trying, guys.

Update: Joshua Green of The Atlantic reports on Eric Massa's Navy Files.