Foley and Massa

At The Daily Caller, a former House GOP leadership aide notes two ways in which the Massa scandal differs from the Mark Foley scandal that helped end the Republican majority in 2006:

The GOP had to deal with this story for roughly 30 days. After the election, no one really cared about Mark Foley, the damage was done and the House shifted power. Today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has 235 days to try and save her job. That is a very long time for more shoes to drop, more allegations to surface and more questions that will need to be answered. And every time this comes back into the media, it will not go quietly, it will sit and fester causing more political damage to her party.

The second point is what will cause the most pain for the Democrats. Eric Massa is talking to the press. If there was one good thing that Mark Foley did after resigning it was that he went into hiding. This is not the case for Massa. He has already proved he is willing to speak on the record, to sit in on hour-long shows and drop random facts about his case. The more allegations that arise, the more he will feel the need to be heard, each time bringing this case to the surface. In fact, it is only a matter of time until he publishes a book, appears on late night TV and maybe signs up for a reality show.