• $40,000 check just as Massa quit source

• It took a year of complaints to get Congress on Massa. So, let’s say you’re an employer, and you have a middle manager who keeps hitting on his interns and low-level staffers. He goes out of his way to puts them in weird situations. He says inappropriate things to them. And he talks a little salty at work. So, what do you do? If you’re senior Democratic staff, you keep it quiet for a year and let it blow up on Glenn Beck. Heck of a job, Brownie. source

• When 71 percent of Republicans think you’re a liability for your party, and you’re in charge of raising money for the party, it might be time to consider a different career path. In other news, Steele brought his race into the debate, suggesting that while he had a slim margin of error, “Barack Obama has a slimmer margin than others.” source

• It is damage that will last at least a generation. It is an actual catastrophe, a rolling catastrophe that became public first in the United States, now in Europe. It has lowered the standing, reputation and authority of the church. This will have implications down the road.
• Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan • Regarding the crisis the Catholic Church is facing right now, one that’s touched every part of the religion. It’s especially painful on Easter, of all days, to consider this. Noonan makes a key point in her argument: Like Wall Street and legislators in Washington (who have rung up a huge health care bill), higher-ups in the Vatican have considered the Church so powerful as to be invulnerable. And it’s not. And there are consequences. source

• An institution so deeply bound in to the life of society suddenly becoming – suddenly losing all credibility. That’s not just a problem for the church, it’s a problem for everybody in Ireland, I think.
• Church of England head Rowan Williams • Regarding the scandal surrounding the Catholic Church of Ireland, which in a lot of ways mirrors the one the Vatican is facing. Of course, Williams immediately regretted saying it, because, well, it’s a controversial thing to say! Can we just have a moratorium on religious types saying controversial things about one another? source

• “This is really in bad taste.” On the list of least likely things you would’ve expected to come from the Vatican, a comparison of an abuse scandal and cover-up to Jewish persecution is pretty high. And a bunch of Jews aren’t happy about it, either. A Vatican spokesperson finally did some damage control, saying the line “is absolutely not the line of the Vatican and of the Catholic Church,” but the damage has already been done. source

• NO because he’s a head of state, the Vatican says source

• So, Pope Benedict’s got 99 problems, and a cover-up is one. The Pope is in the middle of one massive modern scandal, one which has already tapped his shoulder personally. He should consider his next move carefully, because he’s looking just like Richard Nixon right now. Here’s how (we ganked most of this from an Atlantic article, by the way, but we figure they won’t mind):

First way: What did he know, anyway?

• Nixon While he wasn’t involved with
  the Watergate scandal directly,
  his White House denied the scandal even after finding out, claiming
  they had “no knowledge” of what took place that fateful night.
• Benedict While nobody’s claiming he committed any abuse himself, he reportedly found out about the scandal while a cardinal. The Vatican claims “no knowledge”; sound familiar?

Second way: The cover-up

• It’s not the crime that gets you… it’s the cover up.
• Former President Richard Nixon • Regarding the Watergate scandal, which ultimately was a fairly minor case in the grand scheme of things. If he came clean early and fixed the problem, he would’ve been fine! Similarly, the Pope could’ve saved himself a lot of grief if he had dealt with the incidents on his watch – a Wisconsin sex abuse case and a German priest’s case (which, admittedly, he may not have known about). The lesson here? Deal with things when first happen; they hurt less.

Third way: Shooting the messenger

• Nixon During the scandal, Nixon held a very negative opinion of the press, claiming “the press is the enemy” to his long-suffering aides.
• Pope Over the weekend, the dude said he won’t be “intimidated by petty gossip.” His aides made even more direct attacks on the media.

Fourth way: Thinking you’re infallible

• The Pope is believed to be infallible; Nixon only thought he was. One thing that Pope Benedict has over Richard Nixon is papal infallibility, a concept that many misunderstand. He’s infallible on specific dogmatic matters – matters which probably don’t include sex scandals. Nixon, on the other hand, famously claimed in 1977 that “When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” Too bad the Supreme Court disagreed with him. source