The legendary pitcher, Roger Clemens, right, with his accuser, ex-trainer Brian McNamee. Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Andrew Zajac
How loopy was Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing on Roger Clemens' alleged steroid use?
Consider this:
The previous week Attorney General Michael Mukasey wandered over to the Hill for a House Judiciary Committee hearing which, among other things, touched on violent crime, gangs, civil rights, national security, domestic wiretapping, waterboarding, border security, the Freedom of Information Act, whistleblowers and drugs.
Nobody complained about being rushed, but the whole thing was over in about four hours.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images
Clemens' hearing, which boiled down to whether he did indeed drop trou for a former New York City cop to inject his spankerbox with human growth hormone, dragged on for four and a half hours.
It made Brian McNamee and especially Clemens look bad and didn't definitively establish the truth of the allegations.
The only people who looked worse were the oversight committee members themselves who managed to turn this inquiry into the integrity of professional sport into yet another partisan shoving match. Couldn't resist the bait dangled by Clemens who let is be known that he is a Republican and a pal of former President George H.W. Bush.
(Bush "41" isn't the only Clemens fan. Rumors abound of a possible pardon in store for Clemens from Bush "43," the ex-Texas Rangers managing partner, shown here, with Clemens to the right, at a Rose Garden ceremony for members of the world champion New York Yankees, in 2001.(Photo by Hillery Smith Garrison, AP)
At one point, perhaps in homage to bygone champions of phrenology or the Bertillon bone measurement system, the grandmotherly GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx, of North Carolina, put up four poster-sized pictures of Clemens pitching at different times of his career and offered her opinion that his body didn't seem to have changed much.
So how could he be juiced, right?
Then she asked about the workout regimen he employed to keep that body in such fine shape. Was it just the zaniness of the atmosphere or was there something faintly lascivious in her inquiry?
Today comes word that Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, now regrets holding the hearing.
What? A member of Congress taking responsibility for his stupidity?
Not quite. Waxman says he held the hearing only because Clemens and his lawyers insisted on one.
Try to wrap your brain around that.
A 17-term incumbent, one of Capitol Hill's legendary inquisitors, sponsored a circus because the clowns demanded one.
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Comments
"THE SENSE OF THE SENATE SPEAKS"
MAN I COULD USE SOME HGH, IS THAT PART OF MEDICARE D?
MAN I COULD USE SOME HGH, IS THAT PART OF MEDICARE B?
MAN I COULD USE SOME HGH, IS THAT PART OF HILLARY CLINTONS UNIVERSAL HEALTH PLAN?
Posted by: Roger Morris | February 15, 2008 5:41 PM
Is Clemen's saluting Bush in the photo? Put on a uniform first, Roger, and I don't mean those tights you wear on the diamond.
Posted by: Resdient Genius | February 15, 2008 5:52 PM
What an ass that Congressman Dan Burton was! How much did Clemens pay him?
Posted by: Diggy Zazz | February 15, 2008 6:54 PM
Maybe if the dems were thinking that the terrorist were taking steriods, they might decide to act a little quicker on national security issues
Posted by: Terry | February 15, 2008 10:27 PM
and he (Waxman) is wasting my tax dollars on HGH....aint that a bomber or an iceberg?
Posted by: rawdawgbuffalo | February 16, 2008 12:42 AM
The best was Foxx going and shaking Clemens' hand and hugging his wife after the hearing. It was absurd! I had to check out her opposition in the upcoming election based on her performance here alone!
Posted by: Entropic1 | February 16, 2008 5:14 PM
California and the federal government can take millions of dollars away from public schools, and our childrens education. How much tax $$ did we spend on this ridiculous hearing? Really, who cares? This is just another example of why good people like myself employed in a California school will lose their jobs. Thanks.
Posted by: charlene | February 17, 2008 5:16 PM