There’s an old joke that says, “George Washington never told a lie, Bill Clinton never told the truth, and most members of Congress can’t tell the difference.”
So the news that legendary major league baseball pitcher Roger Clemens has been indicted for lying to Congress struck us as rather odd, because we would have expected Congress to embrace a liar as one of their own. But in Clemens’ case, they didn’t.
ESPN reports on this historic development:
Roger Clemens was vehement: “Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH,” he told a House committee in 2008. Now, instead of the Hall of Fame, baseball’s seven-time Cy Young winner could go to prison after being indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to Congress.
The case writes a new chapter in one of baseball’s worst scandals, the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in the 1990s and early 2000s, and leaves Clemens’ legacy in jeopardy.
The six-count indictment alleges that Clemens obstructed a congressional inquiry with 15 different statements made under oath, including denials that he had ever used steroids or human growth hormone. The New York Times first reported the indictment.
If life were fair, Clemens would be judged by a jury of his peers – the lying, sanctimonious sacks of excrement in congress – and they’d give him a trophy instead of a jail term.
Source: ESPN
This post was last modified on August 21, 2010
View Comments (9)
...and the witch hunts, pogroms, and persecutions continue. If you are not liked, they set up a trap and nail you. If the DeLay in setting off the trap fails, the retraction's on page 18 some 6 years later, long after your financial ruin. Character assassination done in the court of public opinion.
Congress & the left truly disgusts me.
Is this a power granted to the federal government? If so, I must have lost that page in my copy of the Constitution. ALL sports are based in one thing-money. As long as that is the case, there will be gambling, cheating, lying and anything else it takes to scam fans out of their hard earned dollars. Congress has no business in any of this, and if the fans would quit supporting teams with their outrageous ticket prices, contracts, and travel costs, maybe everything would settle down. Just remember, there has ALWAYS been cheating at sports. Good sportsmanship is a fallacy.
The 1 thing I will say about the Feds getting involved with Major League Baseball is that they do enjoy a federal anti-trust exemption. So from that standpoint, I can see their involvement as justified. But usually, there is a bunch of grandstanding from Congress, the MLB drug hearings were no different.
Congress investigating? Oh, the hypocracy !
In a way it's ironic, considering it's the Chicago Lead Blox.
He made too much money for congressrats to not want to hurt him in whatever way they can. They'll just give him a big tax... I mean fine. I wondered back then, why he didn't just tell the truth, though. Like it was a rarity or something that pro sport godzillionaires were juicing. Hell, high schoolers were doing it.
The whole "steroid era" in MLB killed the sport in my eyes. Many of the sports most important records mean nothing. Many of the biggest stars in the game got busted or are highly suspected of juicing. Clemens, Canseco, Bonds, Sosa, Palmaro, McGuire, Caminetti, & there were others. When the governing body cared more about rebuilding it's fan base with a home-run bananza at the expense of fair play, I said enough. I don't miss MLB either, & I loved it growing up. But as a fan, I felt Bud Selig & MLB figured the fans would come back after treating them like dirt, & they were right. Many did, & I will just laugh when the next "crisis" pops up. Nothing will change, & baseball fans deserve it. The fact that they sucked so bad at running a clean ship that Congress felt they needed to get involved says alot. The other thing is it's hard to fool liars by lying to them. Nobody lies more then Congress, & for some baseball players thinking they lie & get away without being exposed is funny.
This is a great post that exposes both MLB and Congress. MLB for being complicit in closing their eyes to HGH use and Congress for being so self-righteous to think they actually need to waste tax payer money holding a hearing! If Clemens broke a law, in terms of illegal drug use, indict him and try him for it. End of story. Congress needs to butt out!
The Rocket is in trouble for lying to congress?
I guess that means all the other matters congress was attending to: economy, security, immigration, the still broken healthcare system and such have been settled in a way that serves the best interest of the American citizen. So now they have time to deal with these tertiary issues – such as baseball players and their drug usage. Good to know!
Wait... Clemens was put under oath but where was Mindy McCready and her testimony in all this? LOL!
Where in the Constitution does it say that congress has the power to oversee, discipline and manage professional baseball leagues? Or any other sport for that matter?
What business is it of the federal government whether or not professional baseball players use "performance enhancing drugs"?
IN WHAT WAY DOES DOPE USE IN A SPORT THREATEN OUR REPUBLIC???
Somebody explain that to me...please.
If the MLB wants to ban steroid use in their league, then so be it. If they want to allow it, then so be it too. Let THEM take disciplinary action against players who use that stuff. It's the MLB owners, the teammates and the fans who Roger Clemens (and all the others who allegedly used that stuff) should answer to.
But why in Sam Hill do we need to be having CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS over this crap?!?!?
Doesn't congress have more important things to do...like say, maintaining a navy, maintaining a currency, engaging in treaties or declaring war with other nations, establishing and maintaining post offices and post roads, etc????
You know, all those specific enumerated powers listed in Article I, Section 8???
And yes, the biggest sack of corrupt liars are in DC, so who the hell are they to indict anyone for lying?