Eric Massa is Number 35 on Esquire Magazine's list of 100 "register of emerging ideas, trends, discoveries, products, people, and obscene gestures you should know about before everyone else does."
The story is exactly what Randy Kuhl said about him in a Hornell Tribune story that Massa took such offense over -- that he was unemployed and that his only job is a (losing) congressional candidate. Would imagine that Massa wouldn't like that.
It's a pretty weird list. Four entries on the list of 100 are for 'girls on bicycles..." -- sounds like a rottenchester blog posting.
Thu, 09/20/2007 - 07:55 — Rottenchester
The article says "no other job". Kuhl said he was "unemployed". There's a difference, as you well know Erik.
As an aside, the name-calling by those who oppose Massa, and by Randy Kuhl himself, is always interesting to me. I think it says a lot more about those calling names than it does about Massa. Some of the names I've heard are "carpetbagger", "unemployed" and "crazy". Anyone who's watched this contest knows that Massa is a hard worker, he didn't move to Corning just to run for office, and he's a serious person who thinks carefully about issues.
So, when I hear those names, I think they say more about the fears of the name-callers than about Massa. The Southern Tier hasn't seen too many serious Democratic candidates in the last couple of decades. Massa is not only making a good run at Randy Kuhl, he's also inspiring and working with local Democrats to revitalize the party. This new phenomenon scares a set of Republicans who think their dominance in the region's politics is a right, not a privilege. So, instead of real debate, we get name-calling.
Thu, 09/20/2007 - 21:54 — Erik (not verified)
Massa is, technically, a carpetbagger. That's not "name calling" but an actual historically political description that came to be during reconstruction after the Civil War. It described people who were politically ambitious but didn't have a home base to run from so they took advantage of a situation (a war, no less) and transplanted themselves and tried to pass themselves off as a resident. Here's the wiki definition... "...in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent. Since 1900 the term has also been used to describe outsiders attempting to gain political office or economic advantage, especially in areas (thematically or geographically) to which they previously had no connection." Sound familiar?
It's laughable when Massa calls himself a "country boy from Corning" as he did during the campaign.
Thu, 09/20/2007 - 22:02 — Erik (not verified)
Here's what Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, had to say about it... pretty funny!
Always a Candidate. Getting on the same list as adjustable breast implants and the incredible shrinking cocktail might not seem like a calling card for Congress, but don’t tell that to Eric Massa. Named to the 2007 Esquire 100, Massa, a retired Navy commander and former top aide to retired Gen. Wesley Clark who again is trying to unseat New York Rep. Randy Kuhl (R), sees being the only politician on the list as a “great honor.”
While the list is in no certain order, Esquire deems him “No. 35: Eric Massa, the Angry Citizen.” That doesn’t appear to have rattled Kuhl. “I think this article does a fantastic job of showing Eric as a career Congressional candidate,” said Kuhl spokeswoman Meghan Tisinger. “I just wonder if Mr. Massa is upset about being beaten by adjustable breast implants and the dirtiest secret in Nevada.”
Thu, 09/20/2007 - 22:45 — Rottenchester
Two points about "carpetbagger":
First, I disagree with Wikipedia. It is derogatory, because it refers to a group of people who came to the South during reconstruction expressly for the opportunistic purpose of profiting from the suffering there. This is not the case with Massa. He moved to Corning to take a job, as the Esquire article notes. He didn't move to Corning to run for Congress.
Second, since carpetbaggers were people who moved South to take advantage of an area that was wrecked by war, the use of that term says alot about what people think about the Southern Tier. Implicit in the charge is the notion that nobody would want to move there except to take advantage of a completely depressed area. I don't think the Southern Tier is like that. People do want to move there, because it is a beautiful area and a great place to raise a family. Calling someone a "carpetbagger" belies a subtle inferiority complex, and politicians like Kuhl who claim to love the area shouldn't assume that nobody would move there except to take advantage.
As for the "country boy from Corning", he may have said it, but I've never heard Massa use that phrase. His stock rhetoric when it comes to "country" issues like Agriculture is that he was in the Navy for 24 years and has a lot to learn.
The Roll Call article is funny, and Randy's spokesperson does a good job with that quote.
Comments
The story is exactly what Randy Kuhl said about him in a Hornell Tribune story that Massa took such offense over -- that he was unemployed and that his only job is a (losing) congressional candidate. Would imagine that Massa wouldn't like that.
It's a pretty weird list. Four entries on the list of 100 are for 'girls on bicycles..." -- sounds like a rottenchester blog posting.
The article says "no other job". Kuhl said he was "unemployed". There's a difference, as you well know Erik.
As an aside, the name-calling by those who oppose Massa, and by Randy Kuhl himself, is always interesting to me. I think it says a lot more about those calling names than it does about Massa. Some of the names I've heard are "carpetbagger", "unemployed" and "crazy". Anyone who's watched this contest knows that Massa is a hard worker, he didn't move to Corning just to run for office, and he's a serious person who thinks carefully about issues.
So, when I hear those names, I think they say more about the fears of the name-callers than about Massa. The Southern Tier hasn't seen too many serious Democratic candidates in the last couple of decades. Massa is not only making a good run at Randy Kuhl, he's also inspiring and working with local Democrats to revitalize the party. This new phenomenon scares a set of Republicans who think their dominance in the region's politics is a right, not a privilege. So, instead of real debate, we get name-calling.
Massa is, technically, a carpetbagger. That's not "name calling" but an actual historically political description that came to be during reconstruction after the Civil War. It described people who were politically ambitious but didn't have a home base to run from so they took advantage of a situation (a war, no less) and transplanted themselves and tried to pass themselves off as a resident. Here's the wiki definition... "...in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent. Since 1900 the term has also been used to describe outsiders attempting to gain political office or economic advantage, especially in areas (thematically or geographically) to which they previously had no connection." Sound familiar?
It's laughable when Massa calls himself a "country boy from Corning" as he did during the campaign.
Here's what Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, had to say about it... pretty funny!
Always a Candidate. Getting on the same list as adjustable breast implants and the incredible shrinking cocktail might not seem like a calling card for Congress, but don’t tell that to Eric Massa. Named to the 2007 Esquire 100, Massa, a retired Navy commander and former top aide to retired Gen. Wesley Clark who again is trying to unseat New York Rep. Randy Kuhl (R), sees being the only politician on the list as a “great honor.”
While the list is in no certain order, Esquire deems him “No. 35: Eric Massa, the Angry Citizen.” That doesn’t appear to have rattled Kuhl. “I think this article does a fantastic job of showing Eric as a career Congressional candidate,” said Kuhl spokeswoman Meghan Tisinger. “I just wonder if Mr. Massa is upset about being beaten by adjustable breast implants and the dirtiest secret in Nevada.”
Two points about "carpetbagger":
First, I disagree with Wikipedia. It is derogatory, because it refers to a group of people who came to the South during reconstruction expressly for the opportunistic purpose of profiting from the suffering there. This is not the case with Massa. He moved to Corning to take a job, as the Esquire article notes. He didn't move to Corning to run for Congress.
Second, since carpetbaggers were people who moved South to take advantage of an area that was wrecked by war, the use of that term says alot about what people think about the Southern Tier. Implicit in the charge is the notion that nobody would want to move there except to take advantage of a completely depressed area. I don't think the Southern Tier is like that. People do want to move there, because it is a beautiful area and a great place to raise a family. Calling someone a "carpetbagger" belies a subtle inferiority complex, and politicians like Kuhl who claim to love the area shouldn't assume that nobody would move there except to take advantage.
As for the "country boy from Corning", he may have said it, but I've never heard Massa use that phrase. His stock rhetoric when it comes to "country" issues like Agriculture is that he was in the Navy for 24 years and has a lot to learn.
The Roll Call article is funny, and Randy's spokesperson does a good job with that quote.