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The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald
It began with a bomb threat - what followed were bombshells.
After a delay of 30 minutes after a suspicious package had to be removed by Capitol Hill police the House Oversight Committee hearing got underway with Chairman Henry Waxman opening statement in regards to Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee:
?They both insist they are telling the truth. But their accounts couldn't be more different.?
?It's impossible to believe this is a simple misunderstanding. Someone is not telling the truth.?
As the hearing began, both Clemens and McNamee were put under oath. Both pledged to tell the truth. However, their testimonies were pretty much 100% contradictory. So - who was the colossal liar?
Watching the day-long hearing, the only conclusion one could make was, both of them.
Both were hammered relentlessly by the committee members, but it was the accused more than the accuser who took the brunt of blows.
Clemens was asked repeatedly about contradictions from his depositions and statements he later made. He was confronted with the fact that he'd lied on 60 Minutes about why he didn't cooperate with the Mitchell Report. Congressman Elijiah Cummings challenged him about a deposition former teammate Andy Pettitte made stating that in 1999 Clemens had told him that he was taking HGH.
?Would he tell the Congress that one of his closest friends was using an illegal performance-enhancing drug if there was any doubt in his mind about the truth of what he was saying?? Cummings asked.
All Clemens could say was, ?I think he misremembers about our conversation.?
Chairman Waxman went so far as to allege that Clemens had interfered with witness testimony when he pre-interviewed an old nanny about a party at Jose Canseco's house.
Perjury - lying to congress - witness tampering.
And that was all before noon!
McNamee got off slightly easier, most likely, because he was the lesser target. However when they did go after him, they got after him good. For him the focus was on why he would keep self-incriminating evidence.
He insisted that he shot up ?Rocket? Roger Clemens with not only Human Growth Hormone, but a whole series of steroids as well. And because he ?distrusted Roger Clemens?, he kept syringes, needles, vials, cotton swabs and bandages, which he says, will contain DNA evidence proving it came from Clemens, in case he needed it ?sometime in the future.?
He insisted that he did not intend to ever use the evidence until on 60 Minutes Clemens played a recording which divulged McNamee's son's medical condition. He described that as ?outrageous? and immediately afterwards dug up the evidence and contacted his lawyer.
Congressman Dan Burton pointed out that when previously asked if McNamee had any Clemens related drug paraphernalia, McNamee said he didn't. Burton then rolled off a series of contradictory statement McNamee had made describing them as ?lies, lies, lies.?
?We don't know what to believe,? Burton said. ?I know one thing I don't believe, and that's you.?
Burton later described the entire hearing as ?a farce? - and this from the guy who led the Whitewater investigations.
Congresswoman Eleanor Norton asked the best question all day. She went through a list of some of the things McNamee had done to Clemens over the years:
* Giving him amphetamines without his permission
* Injecting HGH into Clemens' wife for a Sports Illustrated photo shoot
* Using Clemens' image in an advertisement without his permission
* Lying about the fact that he was a doctor
After learning that Brian McNamee was that much of a lying creep, Clemens still kept him on as an employee. Norton wondered why Clemens ?hadn't fired him until after the Mitchell Report was released??
Good question.
Clemens only answer was, ?I'm a nice guy.?
Was he a truthful guy? Sure didn't sound like it.
Courageously, Roger Clemens appeared before this committee without subpoena and refusing to take the Fifth Amendment, all in an effort to clear his name.
Unfortunately, for him all he did was make matters worse for himself.
What he will face next is potential questions of perjury, contempt of Congress and witness tampering...
...and a reputation that will never be restored.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald
Click here for Odds to win 2008 MLB World Series
The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald
It began with a bomb threat - what followed were bombshells.
After a delay of 30 minutes after a suspicious package had to be removed by Capitol Hill police the House Oversight Committee hearing got underway with Chairman Henry Waxman opening statement in regards to Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee:
?They both insist they are telling the truth. But their accounts couldn't be more different.?
?It's impossible to believe this is a simple misunderstanding. Someone is not telling the truth.?
As the hearing began, both Clemens and McNamee were put under oath. Both pledged to tell the truth. However, their testimonies were pretty much 100% contradictory. So - who was the colossal liar?
Watching the day-long hearing, the only conclusion one could make was, both of them.
Both were hammered relentlessly by the committee members, but it was the accused more than the accuser who took the brunt of blows.
Clemens was asked repeatedly about contradictions from his depositions and statements he later made. He was confronted with the fact that he'd lied on 60 Minutes about why he didn't cooperate with the Mitchell Report. Congressman Elijiah Cummings challenged him about a deposition former teammate Andy Pettitte made stating that in 1999 Clemens had told him that he was taking HGH.
?Would he tell the Congress that one of his closest friends was using an illegal performance-enhancing drug if there was any doubt in his mind about the truth of what he was saying?? Cummings asked.
All Clemens could say was, ?I think he misremembers about our conversation.?
Chairman Waxman went so far as to allege that Clemens had interfered with witness testimony when he pre-interviewed an old nanny about a party at Jose Canseco's house.
Perjury - lying to congress - witness tampering.
And that was all before noon!
McNamee got off slightly easier, most likely, because he was the lesser target. However when they did go after him, they got after him good. For him the focus was on why he would keep self-incriminating evidence.
He insisted that he shot up ?Rocket? Roger Clemens with not only Human Growth Hormone, but a whole series of steroids as well. And because he ?distrusted Roger Clemens?, he kept syringes, needles, vials, cotton swabs and bandages, which he says, will contain DNA evidence proving it came from Clemens, in case he needed it ?sometime in the future.?
He insisted that he did not intend to ever use the evidence until on 60 Minutes Clemens played a recording which divulged McNamee's son's medical condition. He described that as ?outrageous? and immediately afterwards dug up the evidence and contacted his lawyer.
Congressman Dan Burton pointed out that when previously asked if McNamee had any Clemens related drug paraphernalia, McNamee said he didn't. Burton then rolled off a series of contradictory statement McNamee had made describing them as ?lies, lies, lies.?
?We don't know what to believe,? Burton said. ?I know one thing I don't believe, and that's you.?
Burton later described the entire hearing as ?a farce? - and this from the guy who led the Whitewater investigations.
Congresswoman Eleanor Norton asked the best question all day. She went through a list of some of the things McNamee had done to Clemens over the years:
* Giving him amphetamines without his permission
* Injecting HGH into Clemens' wife for a Sports Illustrated photo shoot
* Using Clemens' image in an advertisement without his permission
* Lying about the fact that he was a doctor
After learning that Brian McNamee was that much of a lying creep, Clemens still kept him on as an employee. Norton wondered why Clemens ?hadn't fired him until after the Mitchell Report was released??
Good question.
Clemens only answer was, ?I'm a nice guy.?
Was he a truthful guy? Sure didn't sound like it.
Courageously, Roger Clemens appeared before this committee without subpoena and refusing to take the Fifth Amendment, all in an effort to clear his name.
Unfortunately, for him all he did was make matters worse for himself.
What he will face next is potential questions of perjury, contempt of Congress and witness tampering...
...and a reputation that will never be restored.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald
Click here for Odds to win 2008 MLB World Series
