I don’t watch much television these days. The Office. That’s about it. I don’t say this with any sort of smug pride — anyone who reads this blog knows that I love television and wish I watched more. I feel quite certain that I would love The Wire, 24 (is that still on?), 30 Rock and lots of other shows. It’s just that, between the job, writing 4,000 word Royals previews,* working on a book, hanging with the kids (I do watch the occasional Dora or kids movie like Meet the Robinsons), following the election and trying to read the multitude of books that friends are writing … anyway, I don’t watch much television at all.
*I hope you noticed in the comments section that Bill James wrote that in his opinion Esteban German is clearly a better player than Mark Grudzielanek and should be playing second base every day. I agree with this though realistically the Royals have already made their choice by resigning Grud and then trading for the talented but troubled Alberto Callaspo. They simply do not see German as a viable every day player. They could be right. They also could be wrong.
This is one thing teams do that drive me nuts: They will make judgments about players and simply refuse to adjust. A baseball consensus determined years ago that Esteban German does not have the stamina to be an everyday player. That may indeed be true. But isn’t it worth finding out? The guy has a lifetime .393 on-base percentage in the minors, and he can run some (he stole 330 bases in the minors — and was successful 81% of the time) and he was an absolute revelation in 2006 (.326/.422/.459 in 331 PAs). Wouldn’t you at least TRY to play him every day, just to see? Sure maybe he would dissolve and collapse under the glare of the everyday (that sounds like a Barack Obama phrase, doesn’t it? The glare of the everyday! Yes we can!). But the Royals instead have gone on assuming the worst and giving money to the veteran Grud.
Back to television. I don’t watch much — I bring this up because Wednesday I watched gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Roger Clemens-Brian McNamee steel cage match in those hallowed Congressional Halls, and I have to tell you that I wasn’t ready for it. It’s a miracle that I am standing before you here today. I barely made it. I’m so out of TV watching shape. Maybe if I had spent some time watching some reality television just to warm up, maybe a few Judge Judy shows (or whoever the judges are now on afternoon TV), perhaps a few ESPN shows where sportswriters yell at each other — maybe then I would have built up the stamina and resilience to withstand the five hours of sheer torture. But this was like running the Boston Marathon after eating a box of Ho Hos. The question wasn’t if I was going to throw up. It was how much.
Awful. Torturous. Painful. Torturous. Did I say that already? It was bad enough having to watch that smarmy ex-cop Brian McNamee give his “yeah I lied about that but I’m not lying about this testimony.” It was tough enough having to watch the barely coherent Roger Clemens misunderstand question after question — one representative asked Clemens how he could reconcile one answer with another, and I thought Clemens’ head was going to explode. Power pitchers don’t reconcile. It was horrible enough having to watch analysts break things down during the break, like it was halftime of some NFL game (“I thought McNamee had a good gameplan and he really executed it; Clemens is going to have to make some adjustments and really regroup and come out strong in the second half …”).
But for me the most gruesome part of all was watching these Congresspeople at work. Wow. That’s America? I mean, hey, I’ve watched some C-Span before, I’ve seen other hearings, I read the papers, I’m aware that there are a few problems in Washington. But for some reason, this hearing just made me depressed beyond words. Our nation is being represented by yahoos. It’s no wonder presidents age like dogs, seven years for every year in office. You would age like that too if you had to deal with these Representatives of Doom (More Barack! “It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared these Representatives of Doom, uh, yes we can!”).
Anyway, here are my eight favorite Representatives of Doom:
1. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). I was wondering what the granny character from “The Far Side” was doing in her retirement … apparently she moved into the fifth district of North Carolina, and after her life experience of dealing with cows and aliens who could blame her? The strange part is that at first it looked like Rep. Foxx was going to be one of the real heroes of the day — she came out and basically called the whole proceeding a waste of time and money and said that maybe the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform might want to concentrate on, you know, oversight and government reform. Yes, ma’am. Preach on.
It turned out, though, that this was merely a political ploy. It turned out that Rep. Foxx actually had a LOT to say about this whole thing, so much to say that at one point she decided to just go speaking out of turn and start taking shots at McNamee even while Henry Waxman was whacking his gavel and telling her to pipe down. It’s like she turned from Lady Beacon of Conservatism into Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn before our very eyes (warning: Music Man reference).
Rep. Foxx’s best moment, however, was when she brought out a giant visual aid featuring four blown up photographs of Roger Clemens. I thought, “Oh man, here we go, someone pointing out how much somebody’s body has changed, we haven’t had that pointless bit for a while.” But Rep. Foxx had a different perspective — she thought the photographs proved that Roger’s body HAS NOT changed much over the years and, I guess, this proves he’s innocent. Of course the photographs were from different angles, and so showed nothing, proved less than nothing, not that it would have mattered anyway. “Did you work hard?” she asked Clemens in that grandmotherly way.
2. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga). Another Republican who could not even understand why they were holding this hearing but decided that since they were — hey, why not beat up on Brian McNamee? That’s a theme by the way — I don’t want to stand up for McNamee here, I’m pretty sure he’s a a slimeball, but am I missing something? He was one of the few people to give actual information to the Mitchell Report people, a lot of it looks to be true, the Clemens stuff is being at least partially verified by Andy Pettitte. Is it fair to question his consistency and his credibility? You bet. But I found it pretty sickening to see members of Congress just whaling away on him, like Sonny Corleone on Carlo, just to make themselves look tough.
Westmoreland had what might be the most illogical moment of this whole illogical day — though it would be hard to pick just one. Westmoreland was clearly troubled that McNamee, in the now infamous recorded phone call, did not just say, “Roger, you know I’m telling the truth.” McNamee said he did not say that because he knew he was being recorded and did not want to really go into any details.
That’s when Westmoreland threw out the doozy — he basically said: “Well, if I knew I was being recorded and I knew the world was listening I’d definitely have said that I was already telling the truth.” I haven’t seen anyone else talk about this, but this has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in my entire life. First of all, now Westmoreland is perfectly fine with Clemens recording this conversation and playing it at a press conference — that’s normal? That’s justifiable? He’s the good guy in this? I can only guess this Patriot Act idea of tapping phones and recording conversations has gotten into Rep. Westmoreland’s head.
Second of all, unless McNamee suspected that Clemens would be a scumbag and play this tape at a press conference, why in the hell would he need to say, “I’m telling the truth?” to Roger Clemens who — assuming McNamee is right — would KNOW FULL WELL that McNamee was telling the truth. To me going into some ridiculous, “Roger, you know I am telling the truth,” nonsense like he was a character on Perry Mason would have looked 100 times more suspicious. Rep. Westmoreland did get in a line about “it depends on your definition of what is is” — having lived in Georgia I can tell you that 10 year old Bill Clinton jokes never get old.
3. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo). Ugh. He filled two suck-up roles in this proceedings — first he asked the obligatory, “Roger, what should we tell the kids,” question which did allow Clemens to get on his high horse and talk about how he has always taken very, very seriously the responsibility of being a role model for children, you know, except for that time he threw the bat at Mike Piazza or the time cursed out the umpire or threw the ball at Piazza’s head or the time he whined about carrying his own luggage or made that really hilarious remark about Asians during the World Baseball Classic or was popping Vioxx or whatever. Still, it was touching.
And then Clay, speaking on behalf of another congressmen who apparently was too overwhelmed to be there, asked Clemens what uniform he intended to wear into the Hall of Fame. Clemens did not answer, though I think it would have been funny (as I mentioned in my column) if he had said: “Leavenworth.”
4. Dan Burton (R-Ind). He should be higher on my list — I can’t stand this guy. But I have to credit him for being the most effective bully when it came to beating up Brian McNamee. Others tried, but no one can light up the ESPN scroll quite like Dan Burton. Good for him. Clemens should put him in his will or maybe get him a few rounds of golf since Burton apparently missed 19 House votes so he could play in the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro AM. Burton does love those golf junkets. He was the only member of Congress — the only one, mind you, the vote was 430-1 — who voted against a plan to curb privately funded trips for people in Congress. So maybe when Burton was wailing at McNamee, “I know one thing I don’t believe and that’s you!” maybe McNamee might have responded, “Would a free round at Augusta National change your mind?”
5. Stephen Lynch (D-Ma). Talk about seeing one too many CSI shows (I assume — I’ve never actually seen a CSI. I told you, I don’t watch enough TV. They’re about investigators, right?). This guy decided to go to some MRI from 10 years ago, look at a scab on Roger Clemens butt, and have some doctor try to determine if this scab was more likely caused by B12 shots or Winstrol shots. And just when you thought it couldn’t get more ridiculous than that, Rep. Tom Davis (who is coming up) said this was a “lynching” and tried to put in a report that showed Clemens might not even have had a scab on his butt. Yes, this is what our Founding Fathers wanted — for Congress to argue about pimples on Roger Clemens’ ass. The only thing more ridiculous than this was …
6. Henry Waxman (D-Ca). … when committee chair Henry Waxman decided to go chasing after Roger Clemens’ old nanny (who apparently looked really good — or really bad, I guess — in a green bikini with peach. She was the one who caught McNamee’s attention. Wouldn’t it be funny is she was the key to the whole thing; if it was Brian McNamee’s undying and doomed love professed to the Clemens nanny who does not speak English well — I love how that come up too — that sparked the whole steroid scandal in baseball? This is our country.). The nanny was supposed to determine if Clemens did or did not attend some Jose Canseco* party in 1998. Then Clemens decided it might be a good idea to have the nanny come visit him at his home and have a little chat before she talked with the committee. Waxman thought this could be considered tampering. Clemens said he was just doing all of them a favor. I mean, seriously, isn’t this when someone takes away the toy gavel and pretend lawyers and says that it’s time to come in for some dinner.
*I have to say, though, I love the role Jose Canseco continues to play in baseball’s steroid drama. This guy just won’t go away. I mean nothing, absolutely nothing, could matter less to me than if Roger Clemens attended Jose Canseco’s barbecue. Nothing. Nobody’s claiming they had some sort of steroid deal there. Nobody’s saying they overheard steroid conversation there. Who cares about this at all?
Oh, but people are saying, this could help determine McNamee’s credibility as a witness. Yeah, he told the truth about Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch using performance enhancing drugs, but he’s willing to go to jail to place Roger Clemens at a barbecue. Come on. Let’s find out if he’s lying about SHOOTING ROGER CLEMENS WITH STEROIDS. How about that? And people, finally, let’s just shut out Jose Canseco already. Why can’t lawyers just make a deal, “OK, if you are willing to throw out the Canseco line that Clemens wasn’t at his party, I’ll throw out the Canseco line that he and Clemens had many detailed conversations about how steroids worked. Deal?”
7. Tom Davis, (R-Va). Clemens shill who kept trying to act as if he was “impartial,” when he clearly just wanted a few autographs and maybe ask a quick question about the correct way to grip a curveball. At some point he tried to make this a party line issue (he pointed out that Democrats all seemed to be asking questions of Clemens; he did not point out that Republicans had apparently decided McNamee hid the WMDs and caused the subprime mortgage crisis). For some reason, he kept reminding me of the J.T. Walsh character in Pleasantville, I kept waiting for him to show up in a bowling alley and say, “That is real rain out there gentlemen. This isn’t some little virus that’ll clear up on its own. Something is happening to our town.” Or maybe it was the J.T. Walsh chracter in “A Few Good Men.” “I am not proud of what I have done nor what I am doing now.” Anyway, he reminded me of J.T. Walsh.
8. Darrell Issa (R-Ca). He was really just a poor-man’s Dan Burton so I don’t want to waste much time on him (Chris Shays, R-CT gets an honorable mention here too for calling McNamee a drug dealer). But I do think it’s worth pointing out that Issa really stood up for those B12 shots. Clemens, you know, says that he was being injected with B12 because his mother, years ago, said B12 is good for you.
I do want you to pause for a moment here and think about how stupid this B12 thing is for a moment. Let’s assume for a moment that Roger Clemens is weary of needles, a reasonably fair assumption since it appears he kept taking shots in the buttocks region, which is where needles-haters take shots. I know where he’s coming from. I hate shots. I am nervous about shots, I don’t like them, I don’t like when my daughters have to get them, I don’t like seeing them on TV. Anyone who knows me and several people who don’t know me will tell you: I hate shots.
OK, let me tell you what it means to hate shots: There’s is no way, no chance, no possibility that I would take a voluntary B12 shot unless there was a lot of money involved. No chance. A vitamin shot that MIGHT help me in some vague way or MIGHT NOT help me at all? Are you serious? Why in the hell would I do that? I don’t even believe in flu shots. I wouldn’t take a B12 shot even if recommended by a doctor (which, as Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Iowa righly pointed out, would not happen unless I become a vegan, get Alzheimer’s or got cuckoo — always a possibility). And, while I love my mother very dearly, there’s is no way I would start taking B12 shots because she decided they’re good for me. Hating shots means hating shots all the time; you only take a shot when it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary and you really try to avoid them then too.
So based on the fear of shots alone I’m calling total bullcrap on the whole B12 shot thing.
Beyond that, though, Clemens was a highly skilled professional athlete who pitched into his mid 40s and says he treats his body like a temple, and yet he’s popping “Vioxx like Skittles,” he has no idea what HGH even does and he’s shooting up on B12 on the recommendation of his mother. Who is stupid enough to follow this line of reasoning?
Who? Darrell Issa. Because before he decided to start smacking around McNamee for sport, he first had to point out that his own mother used B12 because she felt anemic. Well, sure. That explains things.
Loading ...
32 Comments, Comment or Ping
will
Speaking of TV, have you tried “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. It’s on FX so it’d kind of low profile but I like it.
Feb 14th, 2008
Doctor Tom
Although the apparent partisan divide in the Committee members questioning and response to McNamee and Clemens was clear to commentators, very little attention has been paid to what is motiviating this split.
Are you telling me all the media mavens are completely unaware that Clemens is active in Texas Republican politics and has been mentioned in the past as a potential Republican candidate for office. He is a personal pal of the Dubya and installed a horsehoes pit in his backyard for when George stops by.
This goes a long way to explain the aggressive questioning done by Burton, et al, but also might explain why Clemens thought he could simply bully and bluster (and lie) his way through this hearing. He has friends in high places. If he is not indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, we will know why.
Feb 14th, 2008
Doctor Tom
AP Story explains Bush-Clemens nexus.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBA-Clemens-Pardon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Feb 14th, 2008
McKingford
Re: the recording of the conversation with McNamee
The issue isn’t that McNamee didn’t say “I am telling the truth, Roger”. It’s that *Clemens* didn’t say “Why are you lying, Brian?”. If Clemens was intending to get McNamee recorded exonerating him, isn’t this the way to do it?
Otherwise, the tape, quite frankly, just sounds like Clemens obliquely trying to obstruct justice by influencing a witness…
Feb 14th, 2008
Emma
Come on, Chris Shays has to be on this list, as more than just an honorable mention!
He deserves consideration for his performance at the last session, with Selig, Fehr, and Mitchell. That’s when he asked questions about “Rafael Palmerry” and his possible steroid use around the time of his “300th hit.” He also, spectacularly, compared the whole steroids mess to the “1919 Blackhawks scandal.”
Feb 14th, 2008
Byron
The thing that was most telling about yesterday’s proceedings wasn’t the abject lunacy of the committee and their questions, but it was how far Clemens would go to clear his name. He threw his trainer (McNamee), his agents (the Hendricks Brothers), his best buddy (Pettitte), his wife and his own mother in the way of any HGH/steroid shrapnel.
I’m used to elected officials wasting my money and being bought off (I’m a cynic at heart) but it really takes a special kind of guy to blame his problems on his wife–while she’s sitting behind him no less–and his dead mother.
Clemens may not do a day in jail and might get in the Hall of Fame, but that display of selfishness.
Feb 14th, 2008
Craig
I can’t believe that a commenter on this site mentioned “Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Despite the vulgarity and depravity of the characters, it’s a pretty brilliant show - they tackle issues head on (including steroids, welfare, racism, abortion and government) and turn it into a 30-minute (crap)storm.
Nothing - NOTHING - was funnier than Charlie singing “Day Man” in the episode entitled “Sweet Dee’s Dating A Retarded Person.” I have watched that episode at least 25 times without exaggeration.
Feb 14th, 2008
Andrew
Joe,
I used to be with you on the flu shots, but then I read ‘The Great Influenza’ by John Barry.
As it turns out, flu shots may be a way to protect yourself from a deadly flu virus that morphs from the latest ‘annoying’ version that their ‘innoculating’ you from with a flu shot.
Feb 14th, 2008
Snowman
I had no idea Dubya was into the horse-hoes.
Feb 14th, 2008
Keith K.
To sum up yesterday’s hootenanny, we had a group of persons with little or no knowledge of either the business of baseball or the science of performance-enhancing drugs, asking nonsensical questions of two persons who were briefly mentioned in a non-binding report that was itself based largely on old media reports and anecdotal hearsay. Oh, and they did so with no apparent goal or purpose in mind.
Many persons asked before these hearings, “Aren’t there more important things for Congress to be addressing, such as the war or the failing economy?” Perhaps we should all be thankful that for one day this group of goobers occupied themselves with something trivial that kept them away from the real issues facing the country.
Feb 14th, 2008
Brian
I played German all year last season in Strat, he slugged poorly .344, but had a .374 OB% and RC/27 of 4.91
Feb 14th, 2008
Paul White
Somewhere on this list has to be Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. I mean, it’s understandable, I suppose, for someone to take Clemens’ side in the issue, or to bash McNamee just for being a weasel. I get that.
This woman went that extra mile, though. (Or some infinity-like number of miles, depending on your religious views.) She proclaimed to the world that she’s certain Roger Clemens will got to Heaven.
That’s Heaven, folks. Capital H.
Roger Clemens, the man who spent yesterday, as Byron correctly notes, throwing all of his loved ones under the bus, is going to Paradise after he shuffles off this mortal coil. No matter that he declared Andy Pettitte to have defective long-term memory, or that he revealed that his wife is apparently in the habit of letting strange men into her bedroom to illegally inject her with drugs, or that he proclaimed that his agent did him “a great disservice” by not telling him the Mitchell Report staff wanted to chat. Nope, none of those stellar actions can keep good ol’ Roger from knocking down the Pearly Gates.
I guess I should be happy, since there’s apparently hope for me yet.
Feb 14th, 2008
Vin
Hey that’s Rep. Bruce ‘Liberal Trial Lawyer’ Braley to you!
Feb 14th, 2008
Jay S in CoMo
Bit too much coverage
for my taste. Turned off the tube
so I wouldn’t see.
Haiku response to
clear my brain; simplify
my gut reaction.
EVERYONE present
Seemed to have a lie to tell.
Unfinished business?
NBA trade snag,
And the Tigers beat ‘Braska.
Headlines that matter.
Moving on from this
and sweep it under the rug.
Forgotten history!
Feb 14th, 2008
Deric
Did anyone read the Pettitte deposition?
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080213144942.pdf
I don’t think Congress got past page 20. There’s more to Pettitte hearing from McNamee not only about HGH but steroids. see p.31
Feb 14th, 2008
Justyo
“It was tough enough having to watch the barely coherent Roger Clemens misunderstand question after question — one representative asked Clemens how he could reconcile one answer with another, and I thought Clemens’ head was going to explode. Power pitchers don’t reconcile.”
Nailed it, Joaldo. I was astounded at how block headed the guy was. Literally and figuratively. I mean he wasn’t even understanding the underhanded lobs coming in the size of watermelons. Some of those shills were coaxing him toward obvious answers that he would ignore on some redundant, indignant ramble.
I kept thinking if this guy even had a modicum of mental dexterity he could make mincemeat of these morons. So many times they teed up a question or situation and he just muffed it in favor of tossing someone else under a bus. Hell, I don’t know if Pettitte is this dumb maybe he does “misremember”.
Again, I hurt for baseball. The spectacle is nauseating. Now with spygate gaining heat and this guy Walsh being the next McNamee football might share the spotlight and it’ll become an epidemic in american sport.
Weirdly i keep asking myself if I care, or how I really feel about it all. At times I’ve been pissed and want to ban everyone, at other times I want to just call it an “era” and let it be and move on, we all get “eras” and what their relativity does to stats. But then I feel some players are more artificial than others like Bonds was in the HOF before he juicedso in my mind he should go but would Palmeiro be in without roids? No. So he should be out. This is where it gets grey for me. I get a headache. I just want to know what context to understand it in and move on. Get rid of Selig too. Fresh blood.
In the words of McNamee, “It is what it is”. Oh and that reminds me. Don’t know who the BOZO MORON representative is who is going to waste more taxpayers dollars going out and doing a study on whether or not New Yorkers accept “It is what it is” as synonymous with “I’m telling the truth” and then entering it into the record but puh-lease…
Great analysis all around. I share the pain.
Oh and one last thing for Mr. White… I felt she was being facetious with her comment and one of the questioners who was way above Rogers head. At least I hope she was being facetious.
Feb 14th, 2008
Paul White
Justyo -
I certainly hope she had her tough firmly planted in her cheek. Sadly, I didn’t get to watch it live, and had to rely on the blog Jayson Stark was keeping as it happened (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3243182&name=congressional_hearings). If you scroll to the 1:28 mark where he comments on her remarks, it sure seems like her thought she was being serious.
So the lesson here is that I can’t trust someone. Either A) a U.S Congresswoman not to gush over a famous person, or B) the Worldwide Leader in Sports to be accurate.
Of course, there’s always C) All of the Above.
Feb 14th, 2008
El Lay Dave
Here we have George W. Bush trying to evangelize democracy across the planet, sometimes with the sword, and yet these ridiculous hearings are what is being presented to the public at large. With such buffonery on display, it’s no wonder there’s some difficulty finding eager takers.
Feb 14th, 2008
El Lay Dave
“buffoonery” (I’m sure y’all knew what I meant.)
Feb 14th, 2008
gogiggs
Clemens failed to learn the “Columbo” lesson: sometimes the best thing to do is just shut up.
In every episode of “Columbo” that I’ve seen the villian thinks he’s smarter than “Columbo” and Columbo gets him to keep talking and embroidering his story until he slips up. Pretty much every villian on the show could have stumped Columbo if he’d just refused to be drawn into talking beyond his initial statement. When Columbo does his “what I don’t understand is…” bit, the villian always tries to explain away whatever it is Columbo is asking about, when he should just say, “yeah, that’s odd, alright. Beats me. Well, seeya.”
Clinton could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he’d said “that’s none of your business”*, instead of “I did not have sex with that woman” and Clemens should have responded to questions about the Mitchell report with, “I’m retired. Leave me alone.”. Instead Clinton gave the world a soundbite that won’t ever die and Clemens started a series of loud public denials that has ended with him (probably) perjuring himself in front of Congress.
In Clinton’s case you can sorta see why he thought he could pull it off. He’d been successfully talking his way in and out of things most of his life. (into: offices, pants; out of: scandals)On the other hand, Roger Clemens thinking he could outsmart or out-talk anyone shows a truly epic lack of self-knowledge.
*which is basically how our current president successfully handled questions about his alleged hard-partying youth.
Feb 14th, 2008
Kevin
I had an 11 year old ask me in class today if it had always been the government’s job to enforce the rules in sports like baseball. I didn’t really know how to respond to the question and it seemed to sum the sheer idiocy of Congress and their grandstanding.
Feb 14th, 2008
Tim S.
While we’re talking about people in Congress, I need to give a hometown shout out to PA Rep. Patrick Murphy, Philadelphian and Eagles fan, who is the only member of the House to vote AGAINST the resolution congratulating the Giants on their postseason run and Super Bowl victory. Yes, it passed 412-1.
(h/t Philadelphia Will Do: http://willdo.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/2008/02/patrick_murphy_1.html)
Feb 14th, 2008
Jim
Love the “Music Man” reference!
Feb 14th, 2008
Andrew
I cant believe nobody has posted Representative Westmoreland on The Colbert Report. Stephen asks him to name the ten commandments, and, well, it deserves a place in the youtube Hall of Fame.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JWs9T8oZnRc&feature=related
Feb 14th, 2008
Justin
I love that vote by Murphy, and can’t believe why there weren’t more.
While I think it is funny to pick on the Congressmen in the hearing, I also think it is sad. Really, really, depressing. These are the idiots we elect to run our country. That isn’t a partisian statement. Both parties fill their ballots with idiots who go to Congress and do the work of their party rather than of the American people.
Dan Burton, seriosly? Is there any doubt that this guy had no idea what was going on? He had to be corrected at least twice in five minutes by his staff on simple matters, and then blurted out his line about not believing McNamee just in time to make it to his tee-time. What a joke.
Feb 14th, 2008
Chris Dankberg
Yes! Finally… I’ve seen a couple of great columns on this disgrace - Slate’s was terrific (http://www.slate.com/id/2184374/nav/tap3/).
Anyway. I had the exact same experience. I’m just sad. McNamee and Clemens were embarrassed, horribly. Clemens probably moreso. His story continues to make less sense. You’ve covered the basics (wait, so Debbie does HGH?). But for the life of me, I can’t begin to understand what Clemens was attempting to accomplish with this - clearing his name, I guess. That plenty of Congressman were willing to play along is plenty terrible. But above else, Clemens, and his highly compensated legal team, has shown inconceivably bad judgment in the post-Mitchell era. It’s equally amazing to me that Clemens’s bizarre press conference was covered as “news” rather than absurdity. That he thought that would help. But then, watching him in Washington, it sort of starts to make sense. Nobody has the guts to tell him when to give up. He probably thinks he killed up there.
He may have perjury charges yet to come. The next referendum will be the HOF vote. And I think support for Clemens’ candidacy is going to continue to suffer. I doubt he’ll get the point then, either.
Feb 14th, 2008
Shay
The question isn’t who are the representatives, its who keeps voting for these idiots. The one representative that did his/her job was Elijah Cummings. He asked the best questions and kicked Clemens bloody a** by showing that the Rocket’s time line for a discussion with Pettitte was bogus. There is a representative who makes his district look intelligent!
Feb 15th, 2008
truth
My two favorite moments of the hearing:
(1) Clemens is asked if he is a vegan, and is completely flummoxed. “I don’t know what that is.”
(2) Clemens two lawyers bouncing around behind Clemens trying to get him to say what they agreed on.
But maybe I misheard, or am misremembering.
Feb 15th, 2008
Oddibe Kerfeld
Joe,
You forgot to mention that our buddy Rep. Kucinich is part of that committee. Unfortunately he was not in attendance for the Clemens hearing. This is likely because he’s back in Cleveland fighting for his political life in the March 4th primary. His two goofy presidential campaigns have upset folks in his district and now a Cleveland city councilman is coming after him. Anyhow, Rep. Braley (D-IA) at one point asked Clemesn if he was a vegan and Clemens said he didn’t know what that was. Rep. Kucinich if he had been there could have then used all of his questioning time to give a speech on veganism. That would have been a great moment in American history. I’m sorry we missed it.
Feb 15th, 2008
Seonachan
No one should be surprised at Dan Burton’s lunacy. This is a guy who was so convinced that Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster murdered, he “reenacted the crime” by firing a pistol shot from his backyard into a pumpkin. He takes his own scissors to the House barber shop and won’t eat soup in restaurants because he is afraid of getting AIDS.
Feb 15th, 2008
Mauichuck
Music Man huh? Exactly what part of Cleveland are your from, Lakewood?
Feb 15th, 2008
G Young
I will point out that Mike Boddiker was on Petro this week and talked about watching Clemens do his B-12 regimen.
Now, he also recalled having some pretty strong anti-steroids conversations with Clemens. However, he talked in depth about Clemens using B-12. I’m thinking he just graduated, and that he knows he can count on ex-teammates misremembering his fondness for B-12, so he’s using that as a crutch.
Also, I was the Music Man in 6th grade. I knew the territory.
Feb 15th, 2008
Reply to “My Eight Favorite People in Congress”