Eric Massa's trip to Washington in a fuel cell vehicle is still making the news, as intended. The Democrat and Chronicle has a story on the trip today. National blogs, including this green warrior and these right-wingers, are running to their fainting couches because two vehicles were involved in the trip. They're shocked and appalled that a R&D prototype running on experimental fuel doesn't work as well as the family minivan.
I'm sure Eric Massa, who freely acknowledges that the trip was a publicity stunt, is reading all this and smiling. In addition to getting more publicity, he has the opportunity to defend a district employer against outside critics.
The 29th has lost jobs and population for decades. Massa beat a heavily favored incumbent by convincing voters that he would fight harder to create jobs. His campaign was full of creative stunts designed to show that he's a fighter, and only those who don't understand the politics of the district would think he'd stop once he was elected.
Comments
Hi Rottenchester
I am repeating my comment to you that I made on monroe rising
What you are saying rottenchester is kind of sad. That we have a congressman that will do stupid things to get his name in the press. Maybe we should be more interested in facts and truth.
I agree if Eric Massa can get GM to expand the plant it’s a good thing. But have we evolved to the ends justify the means? That is OK to create global warming to get the message out of global warming? Isn’t that a little self defeating and a lot selfish by Eric Massa that he cares more about getting elected than things like truth and honesty?
If you keep inviting people to throw things at you for the publicity sake you need to be careful that someone doesn’t lob a brick at you.
I live in his district and considered voting for him, I had a little much of Randy Kuhl, in the end I did not vote for massa. It was a tight election. I would be more impressed if he drove the car around the district instead of a stupid publicity stunt that that shows he can't do simple math of realizing the car does not have enough range.
He did not win by that much, I like to believe we have some people who think in the district
That we have a congressman that will do stupid things to get his name in the press. Maybe we should be more interested in facts and truth.
That's not what I'm saying. He was truthful about the trip -- he called it a publicity stunt, which is an event designed to draw attention. It's no different from the hundreds of other publicity stunts done by MoCs all the time. The congressional record is full of speeches by MoCs declaring it national X day, where X is something produced in their district. This is just as much a part of being a MoC as voting on legislation.
But have we evolved to the ends justify the means? That is OK to create global warming to get the message out of global warming? Isn’t that a little self defeating and a lot selfish by Eric Massa that he cares more about getting elected than things like truth and honesty?
All Massa did was use a little more gas to get to DC than he would have otherwise. It's not like he fueled that car with baby kittens and the hopes of teenage girls. So, in this case, yes, the end (which was to show that hydrogen technology produced in the 29th district is real enough to fuel a car) justified the means (using a little extra gas). The value of the free publicity received far outweighs the cost of that free publicity.
I would be more impressed if he drove the car around the district instead of a stupid publicity stunt that that shows he can't do simple math of realizing the car does not have enough range.
You might be more impressed, but he wouldn't be getting as much media attention for the district by doing it. Also, he obviously did the simple math and came up with a solution to the problem.
My point in my comment at Monroerising was that sniping and nitpicking is not a strategy to defeat Massa in 2010. You need a real candidate, with real money and real ability, to win.
You might be more impressed, but he wouldn't be getting as much media attention for the district by doing it. Also, he obviously did the simple math and came up with a solution to the problem.
All Massa did was use a little more gas to get to DC than he would have otherwise.
Sure and all Al Gore does is fly around on private planes, when commercial ones are available and use 20 times the average energy. Look what is happening to his movement. It has become a us vs them liberal vs conservative issue. People call him a hypocrite and question his motives on a regular basis.
The image is Eric Massa driving to washington too stupid to look at the hydrogen fuel gauge, now thats a laughable thing. I don't have to worry about the money or the candidate selection, others will. All I am is a person questioning my congressman based on a statement that you made that he thrives on these stupid publicity stunts. Can't see how that helps him. Seeing him drive that car around pittsford and stopping in Hick's and McCarthy or Ben and Jerrys (shameless plugs for some great local business) would really impress me. Make me want to walk up shake his hand and say thank you sir. This makes me want to snicker at him.
And for the record good to see you back at monroe rising again rottenchester.
Hey, I do appreciate your comments, but I have to disagree:
Sure and all Al Gore does is fly around on private planes, when commercial ones are available and use 20 times the average energy.
One trip to DC using two cars instead of one is hardly the same as flying around in a private jet.
All I am is a person questioning my congressman based on a statement that you made that he thrives on these stupid publicity stunts.
Randy had his share of ribbon cuttings, speeches on the floor of the House lauding Glenn Curtiss, etc. You'll have to point me to all the instances where Monroe Rising took him to task for them. You won't find any posts here criticizing Randy for that kind of stuff.
I'm making a comment on how Massa plays the game. If you hate the game, well we've got a lot in common. But don't hate the player.
I do not hate the game or the player. I just want different players. I like many am playing the game. I do not make the rules. You however have created a playing field.
Tiberius - wake me up when Massa lands on a aircraft carrier and declares victory
ElmerJK
I agree I thought that was a stupid stunt and thought at the time it would backfire and he would come to regret it. Hopeflly Massa wont get that stupid, but he has only been in office one week and his initial trip was a stupid stunt.
What baffles me is that they couldn't have had a tanker of hydrogen waiting half-way to refuel him. If they could arrange for an entire new car to switch into, a refuel seems trivial.
That would have even let him make the "see, if we had a proper hydrogen fueling infrastructure, this would have been even easier!" point instead of letting the right-wing make hay about how supposedly useless green initatives are.
ceejayoz, you are excatly right. But whats so baffling? He was only thinking about the stunt. It has been easy for him the last few years, just criticize, do stunts and get media attention. Now he has to think like a congressman representing people and ideas, not just getting elected.
I don't care what anyone says about him thriving and being a master of chaos. If he does one foolish stunt after another he will only hurt himself. Remember the state will lose a congressman or two in the next census. They are running out of republicans to gerrymander. A foolish democrat who ticks people off may be a target as well.
Here's an example of how Massa's trip ticked people off:
http://www.mpnnow.com/opinions/x1621240515/Cheers-and-Jeers
Awful, ain't it? How will Massa survive the torrent of bad publicity from this trip?
Massa went on a tour of the GM facility on 12/17/08. I hadn't heard about him driving to DC in a fuel cell car before that tour, so my guess was that he and the GM folks came up with it during or after his visit. So perhaps there wasn't time to arrange a tanker.
Rest assured, however, that if Massa had used a tanker, then the same people who are complaining about him using two cars would have complained that the tanker used more fossil fuel. Then, they'd argue that the use of extra fossil fuel completely invalidated the reason for the trip, that it showed that Massa was just out for publicity, and that as a result of the trip he'll be re-districted out of existence.
I can't believe that people actually sit around and complain about what Massa drove or even how he got there when there are other things to worry about. Upstate New York, the 29th District is hurting, maybe we could turn all of the negative energy around, for something positive and come up with ideas to fix things. For all the energy that was used to think up the slams on Eric Massa, it could have been used for something that could have made a difference. What's done it done. Are we going to support our leader or sit around and complain about him?