Liar Liar

We watched the all-important Congressional Baseball Steroids Hearing at work yesterday. I am puzzled by the partisan division on this topic and am frankly dismayed by the Republican approach. They looked like fools in their questioning.

I'm no fan of Dan Shaughnessy, but this exert from the Boston Globe today says it all:

"It was pretty clear that most of the congressmen and women came to the hearing with their minds made up. Clemens last week visited more than 20 representatives - an outrageous parade that compromised the hearing and painted numerous elected officials as fanboy/sycophants. Listening to the questions yesterday, you could pretty much tell which reps got autographed baseballs and signed photos for their office walls.

Representative Dan Burton, Republican of Indiana, was buffoon of the day (did you notice the Lone Star cuff links?), bashing the media, reminding us that Roger is a "titan" in baseball, and invoking the old Ray Donovan question - "Where do I get my reputation back?" Burton was shocked, shocked, that McNamee lied to reporters when asked about steroids back in the pre-Mitchell days."

Please. I give you this: McNamee loved Clemens and how Clemens treated him. He was confronted by Federal Marshalls with proposition of 'tell the truth or go to jail.' He gave up Pettitte and Knoblauch - and potentially some others. Clemens took care of him, why give up Clemens? If you say nothing, Clemens remains your friend and helps you. Why drag Clemens in even if he is guilty? Because you know that Pettitte will tell investigators that Clemens is guilty, and if that happens and McNamee said he was clean - McNamee goes to jail! There is NO motivation for McNamee to lie about Clemens when the other guys all admitted that he was telling the truth!

All that said: Our government has better things to do with its time.