Roger Clemens Commits Perjury

...and Dan Burton reminds us why we should never, EVER vote Republican. EVER. Did you see that arrogant display? Now, Burton is from Indiana, so I don't think he's representing a lot of Yankee fans. But Republicans will always bury their nose in the ass of the guy with the most money, and smear with impunity if they don't like what someone is saying. So faster than you could say "Valerie Plame," Burton was attacking McNamee's character rather than asking him questions about the truth. What a charade. To McNamee's credit, he sat there and took it, with a bemused look on his face, not only from Burton but from every other Republican on the committee. What I'd like to know is, where has all this Republican righteous indignation over lies been the past seven years? Evidently, lying about who used steroids when is more important than lying about national security or hiring practices in the Justice Department.

That was only fifteen minutes in an afternoon of high drama. If you thought Clemens was innocent before-or were trying to give him the benefit of the doubt-you'd have to be braindead to be holding that opinion after that performance. The Roider looked like a kid who got caught with the test answers on his arm in the principal's office-he stuttered, licked his lips, fidgeted, avoided answering questions, gave non answers when pressed, talked about what a patriot he is, patted himself on the back (endlessly), threw his wife under the bus, blamed his mother  for using "B-12", and went as close to the line as he possibly could without calling Andy Pettitte a liar. He looked like a complete slime. As one of the analysts on sports radio just said "Roger came out looking bloody." 

McNamee on the other hand, no matter how awful he looked (and he did look bad on a few occasions), answered the questions asked of him, directly and immediately. No squirming, no tangents, no obfuscation. He looked nervous at times, but he took the abuse and answered the questions. 

Among the "highlights"...

Elijah Cummings says Andy Pettitte testified that Roger Clemens told him he was using HGH several  years ago, around 1999-2000. Clemens says Pettitte "misremembers," that Pettitte mistook a conversation about three old men on the TV to mean Roger took HGH. Uh-huh. That makes sense. Andy's not a liar, he just has Alzheimer's disease. Then after sending his minions out a few weeks out to play down the nature of their relationship, Clemens insists that they were so close that Pettitte would have consulted him before Pettitte used HGH in 2002, had he known.

Roger Clemens and his "people" engaged in witness tampering prior to the hearing, by contacting his ex-nanny-who he hadn't seen since 2001-to try and coach her testimony about his being at a party at Jose Canseco's house. And THEN he has the absolute brass balls to say he was trying to "help" the committee! Oh, my freaking God, Roger! HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!? (Pretty stupid, apparently.) This alone should get Roger a stint in the big house IMO.

According to testimony, Brian McNamee injected Debbie Clemens with HGH in the Clemens' bedroom without Roger knowing about it. It's very unbelievable to me that he would be OK with his trainer (who had been accused of rape in the past) and his wife being in the bedroom behind closed doors without knowing what was going on. Clemens apparently held such a complete trust in McNamee and felt that his integrity was so impeccable that he could trust him in such a situation. Frankly, I wouldn't've trusted Brian McNamee to walk my dog, but Roger would like us to believe he had no clue what he was doing in there with Debbie.

During the Terri Schiavo debacle, we learned that erstwhile Sen. Bill Frist-a physician-believed he could diagnose persistent vegetative state by watching a videotape. Now we have learned that Rep. Virginia Foxx (another Republican Clemens butt-kisser who is not a physician) believes she can discern the use of PEDs by looking at four different photographs. Next thing, we'll find out that Theo Epstein diagnosed Schilling's shoulder problems by using a Crazy Eight ball.

You apparently can, though, diagnose steroid injections from an MRI. Nice call there, Rep. Lynch ( a Democrat, duh!)

Two guys I would take a bullet for: Elijah Cummings and Henry Waxman. If the Roider thought he was going to get some special consideration (from the Democrats, anyway-the Republicans were too busy asking him what uniform he would wear to the HOF and asking about his workout regimen) because "I'm Gumby, dammit!" then he was dissuaded of that notion when Cummings told him to stop mumbling at the beginning of the hearings, and Waxman told him to shut up at the end.

Some days, it's just not enough to be Gumby, as Roger found out today. Especially when you end up like Mr. Bill.   

Comments

[Dave]

They should have put me on that committee. I saw that SOB pitch at Fenway a lot in 1995 and 1996 and stink the joint up. Then he wins a Cy Young the next year? He was shooting up.

[soxfaninmiami]

Lisa I agree that he lied. However, I applaud all of the committee members who had the guts to admit that the proceeding itself was wrong and misplaced. It should not have happened. Shame on Clemens' attorneys if they had the chance to stop it and didn't take it. Roger (as much as I don't care for him) is getting horrible legal advice.

[Lisa K.]

I think Henry Waxman's opening statement cleared up the reasons for why the hearing itself was needed. But as a practical matter, the congresspeople were ill-prepared and it was a farce.

It was Roger and his attorneys who insisted on the hearing at the time it was, (my guess is thinking there wasn't enough time to get testimony from the nanny.) And yes, Roger IS getting horrible advice, but he's not a complete idiot, as much as you'd think so since he doesn't know what "vegan" means. He could put a stop to it, and he chooses not to.

[K-Sea]

It's funny how everyone surrounding Roger was doing HGH/Steroids from his wife, his best friend AP even Knobby, all administered from the same trainer...ROGERS TRAINER... BUT Roger was above at all. WHAT A GUY!

[Michael Leggett]

I'm just curious if Dan Burton, & other Clemens Arse-Smoochers, might also be Roger's "Lodge Brothers", as "Lodge Brothers" have a tendancy to show preference to the aggrieved brother?

[Michael Leggett]

"Veritas" is Latin For Truth. It is NEITHER Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal, for Truth is OBJECTIVE:

SUBJECTIVE is colourisation. & WHY would "Dubya" want to risk The Republic, let alone his own party, tosave the Arse Of William Roger Clemens;

What does William Roger have on the Bush Family of CT & TX?