I hadn't really been following the developments in the Eric Massa story until this morning...

...when I watched clips of him appearing on the Glenn Beck and Larry King shows.

I'm no psychologist, but it's my amateur opinion that the guy is on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. You can see it in his eyes and body language, you can hear it in his voice. He's treading water, and he thinks that if he doesn't stop swimming, he'll sink. It's hard not to pity him. Every problem in his life--disagreements with his party leadership, worries about his own health, deep-seated guilt over ethical misconduct, questions about his own sexuality--has apparently spiraled out of control around the same time.

So what does he do? He conflates them all into a single amorphous crisis. He quits his job, announces he will disappear from politics and public life, and then immediately goes on two highly-watched, highly confessional TV shows. Worse, he clearly had no specific agenda at the time. At this point, he has publicly denied AND admitted everything (simultaneously!), and has begged the public for sympathy and attention on issues we have no control over or even much knowledge of. He wants people to feel sorry for him, but of course we naturally expect our politicians to posses a level of personal fortitude he clearly doesn't have.

Simply put, I've honestly never seen anyone in politics go to pieces so publicly. Thus, I will not be taking potshots at Congressman Massa, because I'm not a fan of kicking people when they're down. He's not a hypocrite or a coward or anything to really take offense at.

He's just ill.

He needed family/friends to intervene some days ago-- (and not because of any real or perceived sexual proclivities).... I fear he might be so close to the edge that his life might be at risk.

I hope he recovers--from this whole debacle and from his recurrence of cancer.

I am surprised he hasn't burst into flames. where the hell is his family?

I watched the Larry King interview and felt guilty. ANd very sorry for the guy, whatever his faults. I hope that he meant what he said at the end of the interview, namely that he will get out of the public eye, have no more media appearances, and concentrate on his health and family. One last thing: I don't think that the way he behaved on the Beck interview (saw the snippets on Countdown) was accidental. I don't mean he wanted to play with dear Glen on purpose, just that once he agreed to the interview, he realized what he has done and how he is going to be played if he is not very careful about what he is saying. He was much looser with his words and comments (less coherent too, in as much as I could see) in the "safer" King environment.

All in all, a very sad story, and I wish him the best and a switch to a more healing time in his life if possible.

:shrug:

...he KNOWS he's going down and knows he thoroughly deserves it. He decided to just give up and enjoy the ride.

Massa's not enjoying himself one bit.