Nine months ago, he spoke of being impressed by the culture of the capital. And by the hard work of those in Congress.

"Men and women who disagree with each other but are of good faith really do hash these things out in very passionate and detailed arguments," Massa said in June of 2009.

What a difference now.

"I learned in just a year and that is you can either go along to get along, or you can literally be bought and sold legally," Massa said on the Fox News Channel.

The Massa saga has been playing out for close to a week. A surprise announcement last Thursday that a cancer scare meant Massa would not seek re-election.

"That's a tumor," Massa said.

Even as Massa was announcing his plan, reports circulated that an ethics investigation was underway involving sexual advances to male aides. Within hours, Massa said he would resign.

But over the weekend in a radio program and again in two cable news interviews on Tuesday, Massa tied his decisions to his opposition to health care legislation and past run-ins with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

"Rahm Emanuel hates me. He doesn't like me. I get it," Massa said.

Massa was insinuating he had been forced out. A claim the White House brushed aside.

"The notion that somehow we were involved in that is, as I said this morning, was silly and ridiculous," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

All along, Massa has appeared to be confirming various details of the claims against him.

"Now they're saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled him till he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday. It was kill the old guy," Massa said.

First confirming...

"Now they're saying I groped a male staffer. Yeah, I did," Massa said.

...Then contradicting.

"Is it true that you groped male staffers?" Larry Kind asked.

"No, it is not true," Massa replied.

By the end of his media tour, even those interviewing him seemed frustrated and confused by the changing stories.

"America, I'm going to shoot straight with you. I think I've wasted your time," said Glenn Beck.

What is Eric Massa's future? He may have summed it up best in one of his talk show appearances on Tuesday night.

"In 72 hours, nobody's going to remember who I am, nor are they going to care," Massa said.

While there had been an ethics committee investigation into Massa's activities underway at the time he announced his resignation, that investigation is now closed. There will be no public findings. That's because the House no longer has jurisdiction since Massa is no longer a member.