There is nothing 'silly and ridiculous' about Eric Massa's flameout departure from Congress. All the White House needs is Ramin Hedayati, the Daily Show's famous Fox News watcher, to know that Eric Massa is as serious as a case of flesh-eating bacteria.
It's foolish to be so dismissive of a man who just added a ton of proverbial coal to the conspiracy spewing powerplant that is Fox News. He had the full, shockingly bad hour on Beck Tuesday (update - and may have totally burned out at this point) and Hannity earnestly replayed a Massa radio interview -- full of conspiracies and accusations so base only a deviant mind could have thought them -- on Monday. That's more than a news cycle! And the message is clear:
"Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil's spawn..." who will stop at nothing to destroy America, which conveniently fits an existing Fox News message - nevermind the messenger. These are people that actually believe in devil spawn, that take a disgraced officeholder -- or maybe in the Fox News universe you're a hero for dropping your public office, like the too-cool-for-school former Governor of Alaska -- like Massa at their word because he ran a brilliant play taken from their tried-and-true "Sack the Democratic President Playbook". To hear them tell it, the (perpetual) final battle, features the evil-Dems not just shoving the health care bill 'down America's throat' (to quote a Republican Party/Fox News co-branded talking point) but to put a point on it, the vindictive devil-spawn himself, Rahm Emanuel, is prodding along the 'government takeover of your health care' with a burning hot skewer. This shit is Biblical, it's always Biblical.
This level of insanity is not 'silly', it is dangerous. What's 'ridiculous' to me is that the DOJ or Congress hasn't set up an investigation to let these guys know they have to check their rabblerousing revolution by any means necessary diatribes at the "On Air" door cause people are getting killed out here (see: IRS. See: Pentagon). Let's just call it what it is: it's hate speech (update: see comment below on actual legal defintion) that borders on inciting violence. It's hateful and it's aimed at the Commander-in-Chief (and shame on every Republican that dares to undermine that role in a time of war) and his top deputies.
And let me just help out with a talking point here for the Dems: if Health Care is a government takeover, then so is the FDIC. How many banks went under last year? Hundreds! How many Americans lost their bank savings: zero. Thank you, Federal Government, your REGULATION of the private banking industry saved Americans their bank savings. Now if you get Health Care Reform done, your regulation of the PRIVATE HEALTH CARE system will help save lives; many, many lives.
If that's a government takeover, I invite Republicans to demand a repeal of the FDIC.
Henhouse guard, Ramin Hedayati, revealed in the clip below.