We are blogging live from the living room, where Roger Clemens is about to testify (not in my living room, on ESPN) and Bob Ley has just assured us “there’s going to be drama.”
9:38- ESPN just reported what was obvious to a lot of people- Andy Pettitte gave new testimony, damning to Clemens, in exchange for not having to testify today.
9:40 - Roger Cossack, ESPN’s legal guru, is making some excellent points - what we’re about to see isn’t a trial. There will be no due process, no cross-examination, etc. Also, if this was a trial, Clemens’ ridiculous visits to Congressmen’s offices the past few days would have amounted to schmoozing with the judges, i.e. “working the referees.”
Congress’ job is to make laws, not conduct quasi-legal proceedings. That should be a function of the judicial branch. The problem is to the public, this will look enough like a trial that it may as well be one. What’s about to happen is a bit more legit than the absurd Pete Rose “trial” (and Johnnie Cochran vs. Alan Dershowitz legal matchup) the Worldwide Leader concocted a few years back, but not much.
9:50 - They’re again showing a piece on Clemens’ relationship with McNamee. The footage of Clemens working out in this piece, which I’ve probably seen a half-dozen times now, has always looked slightly off. Example- It shows Clemens doing squats on a Smith machine, a training apparatus that holds a barbell in place, allowing it only to slide straight up and down. It has metal flanges on it that “catch” the bar on metal notches, in case the lifter falls or loses control of the bar. To a serious athlete or lifter or trainer, a Smith machine is like training wheels. It makes squats much easier, but also makes them a less effective exercise.
I do squats. I use a Smith machine because I’m not a serious lifter, I don’t generally have access to a spotter, and I’m almost 50 years old. I can’t imagine why someone like Roger Clemens, with McNamee and other hangers-on standing close enough to touch him, would use one unless his trainer doesn’t know what he’s doing. I could be wrong about that, of course. If you’re knowledgeable about this, you’re encouraged to enlighten us.
10:11 - The day’s first lie, not a serious one, comes from committee chair Henry Waxman: “Representative Davis and I scheduled this hearing very reluctantly.” Waxman is an earnest, hard-working guy who’s always digging into something, but like many congressmen he is very deeply in love with the sound of his own voice. If he has a feeling about being the ringmaster of this circus, it ain’t reluctance.
10:21 - Eleven minutes into the Waxman filibuster, he says flat-out that Clemens has lied in testimony and during his “60 Minutes” interview, and pointed out things in the testimony that are inconsistent or implausible. Kaboom.
…
11:44 - Dan Burton (R-Indiana) just nuked McNamee for his track record of lying, and strongly suggested this entire proceeding is idiocy. Burton is also implying, of course, that the Mitchell Report is a joke.
To the extent that anything is ever to come from this, it’s all evidently going to come down to McNamee’s credibility, which is undeniably questionable.
11:50 - Stephen Lynch (D-Massachusetts) is bringing in physical evidence, based on MRI results and apparent damage to Clemens’ butt, that could likely (according to one medical expert) have come from PED injection. This is the kind of thing that would draw heavy cross-exam during a trial, but not during a committee hearing - Clemens’ lawyer just tried to respond and Waxman shut him down.
11:56 - I’ve had the sense for a while that this is a partisan thing (Republicans pro-Clemens, Democrats anti), and Davis, (R-Virginia) just comfirmed it: “Mr. McNamee, let me get back to you, because the other side seems to be obsessed [I think he said obsessed; I’m typing as fast as I can] with Mr. Clemens…”
For what it’s worth, George Mitchell was a Democrat.
12:17 p.m. - A beaming Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), evidently a Yankee fan, starts her five minutes with: “As a New Yorker, we are very proud of your accomplishments.”
…
1 p.m. - ESPN’s Steve Phillips, a baseball guy, thinks Clemens is getting killed. Cossack, the lawyer, thinks Clemens is doing OK. I’m with Cossack. This is largely about credibility, and McNamee’s credibility has taken a harder hit than Clemens’. Cossack is right- it would be very, very difficult to nail Clemens on perjury charges
1:55 pm. - As expected, it’s been a long, slow slog. These things aren’t fun, and as I’m probably proving, aren’t particularly good blog fodder. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Georgia) just called the proceeding a “show trial,” and admitted what a lot of people think- this is a very inappropriate use of the Congress’ power.
2:04: Virginia Foxx (R-NC)- “I really wish we could get back to the business of this committee, which is government oversight.”’ Amen. There would seem to be some call for that.
blah, blah, blah, etc.
2:45: Its over, unless it’s just beginning. What’ve we learned? A couple things, I think.
1. Andy Pettitte should’ve been there. Everybody seems to agree that Pettitte is an honest, honorable man. A Christian, although we should all know by now not to put too much weight in that term. He’s the star witness, even more than McNamee, because of McNamee’s massive credibility issues.
Pettitte’s soon-to-be-released statement may reveal plenty, but how many people are going to read it? The point of today, supposedly, was to lay all this out before the public. Pettitte supposedly gave that statement so that he wouldn’t have to testify on TV today. Why does such an honorable, honest man require a deal to tell the truth?
2. Either Rep. Davis is the size of an NBA power forward, or Rep. Waxman is the size of one of Santa’s elves.
