(Thumbnail image: glennbeck.com/New York Daily News)

Hitting the talk show circuit, former Congressman Eric Massa has lots of explanations for resigning, but reporters and analysts say they're not buying it.

We're looking at perspectives from MSNBC, Fox News, CNN and The Washington Post.
 
CNN highlights the skepticism surrounding the former congressman from New York.

Reporter: “They're calling him everything from a hero to a moron to a liberal and a deviant scum bag. Much of the confusion comes from the various stories he's offered for quitting.

Shawn Hogan: "His story changing day by day, it seems to change minute by minute."

Reporter: "So keeping them honest, we went to lay out Massa's explanation. First, he said he was quitting for health reasons. That's the explanation he offered Wednesday to a key supporter back in his home district."

Fox News' Glenn Beck sat down with Massa to dig deeper, but in the end concluded the facts were just too shallow.

Glenn Beck: "You tell me what is going on."

Massa: "I have had people come to me, union leaders -- I'm a union guy and I know you're not -- who said if you don't support this health care bill, I will not contribute to your campaign. That's a bribe."

Beck: "America, I have to shoot straight with you. I think I've wasted your time. I think this is the first time I have wasted an hour of your time. And I apologize for that."
 

CNN's Larry King also gave Massa an opportunity to explain.
 
Larry King: "You are leaving because -- quickly, in a sentence, you're leaving because?"

Eric Massa: "I am leaving because I have to fight simultaneously a potential recurrence of cancer, the Democratic leadership, a health care bill that's going to destroy this country, my opposition to it and a belief that my party has become what it campaigned against."

MSNBC focuses on the changes in Massa's story.

"One minute he's saying the White House -- the Democratic leadership -- pushed him out because he needed to get the health care bill passed and then he starts the interview by saying I pushed me out. I mean, one minute he says they're saying I groped somebody and in the next breath, yeah, I groped somebody, and then made it worse by talking about tickle fights and living in a townhouse with his male staffers."

And finally, for The Washington Post, columnist Howard Kurtz spotlights the media madness created by the resignation and the ensuing explanations.

"[Political journalists] have to deal with matters such as subcommittee hearings, reauthorizations and reconciliation. … So the image of a naked chief of staff doing in-the-buff badgering is hot stuff by Beltway standards. I must say, this obscure former Democratic congressman has been as slippery as a bar of soap.”

Writer: Tyler Goetz

Producer: Adam Falk