quick exit today. house speaker nancy pelosi walked away from the microphones when questions started about former congressman eric massa and that she had been told about his questionable behavior six months ago. republicans are moving to reopen the ethics probe with pelosi at the center. chuck todd, co-host of the daily rundown and kelly o donnell, capitol hill correspondent, joining us now. chuck, first to you. eric massa story and republicans trying to get the most that they can out of it. the white house is trying to ignore all of this, right? reporter: they are. they still want to almost laugh it off, basically try to get the chief of staff, rahm emanual obviously that one story that eric massa enjoyed telling over and over again about rahm emanual lobbying for votes in the house gym. the fact, it s true.
it turns out tickle fights and naked shower fights were just the tip of the iceberg. now the eric massa story gets even stranger. but only at the former congressman s request. it may be silly, but i guess we have to ask it. are you gay? well, here s that answer i m not going to answer that. in year 2010 why don t you ask my wife? ask my friends, ask the 10,000 sailors i served with in the navy. unfortunately for eric massa, one reporter has done just that. and a few of those sailors have come forward. joshua green of the atlantic has spoken with some of the former congressman s naval shipmates, those men telling him, among other things, that massa was notorious for making
it turns out tickle fights and naked shower fights were just the tip of the iceberg. now the eric massa story gets even stranger. but only at the former congressman s request. it may be silly, but i guess we have to ask it. are you gay? well, here s that answer i m not going to answer that. in year 2010 why don t you ask my wife? ask my friends, ask the 10,000 sailors i served with in the navy. unfortunately for eric massa, one reporter has done just that. and a few of those sailors have come forward. joshua green of the atlantic has spoken with some of the former congressman s naval shipmates, those men telling him, among other things, that massa was notorious for making
it turns out tickle fights and naked shower fights were just the tip of the iceberg. now the eric massa story gets even stranger. but only at the former congressman s request. it may be silly, but i guess we have to ask it. are you gay? well, here s that answer i m not going to answer that. in year 2010 why don t you ask my wife? ask my friends, ask the 10,000 sailors i served with in the navy. unfortunately for eric massa, one reporter has done just that. and a few of those sailors have come forward. joshua green of the atlantic has spoken with some of the former congressman s naval shipmates, those men telling him, among other things, that massa was notorious for making unwanted advances towards subordinates.
the eric massa story. our friend ben stein joining us, columnist for tune magazine. columbia university professor. men, your analysis of what you have just witnessed. it s heart breaking. it s almost unbearably heartbreaking. it s heartbreaking if the democrats are sliming him into a decision, it s unbearable if they re pressing him falsely over an allegation that he groped someone at a party, it s unbearable that this man is being torn apart by cancer, it s also unbearable if he really was harassing people and he s making all this up to make it seem like a political thing. the whole thing is just extremely sad. mark hill, what s your read?