I have actually been watching. It's interesting. It's amazing as to how conflicting Clemens' testimony is compared to McNamee's. It's clear some of the congressmen/congresswomen have their opinions and you can see who they are going after. It's also interesting because Roger seems to have some difficulty understanding/answering some of the questions.
My own take in watching the hearings are that Roger is lying. McNamee has nothing to lose with his testimony. Andy Pettite, one of baseball's most standup guys, gave a deposition where he admitted that Roger told him that he had taken HGH. McNamee has said that he has given performance enhancing drugs to Pettite, Clemens, and Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch and Pettite have agreed with McNamee's claim.
One of the congressmen (I don't know his name) was clearly on the side of Clemens calling him a "titan" of baseball and that McNamee is a liar. McNamee does not deny that he lied in some of his earlier statements as he was trying to protect Roger and his other clients/friends. That is his reason for lying. Now that this has all blown up, he understands that he must tell the truth and he has nothing to hide from. Also, in his opening statements, McNamee said that he is ashamed for what he has done but he hopes that in some way he can redeem himself by coming clean and help be part of the solution to the drug problem in baseball. The congressman did not seem to understand why McNamee would lie early on. That congressman seemed like an idiot.
McNamee is coming across as much more credible in my opinion. I think the hearing will open up a case of perjury against Clemens. Clemens has just come too far in his denials of drug use to turn back. Marion Jones recanted her claims of innocence recently but she also didn't go on a media frenzy claiming her innocence like Roger is so it is harder for Roger. There are just too many inconsistencies and things that don't make sense that lead me to believe Roger is innocent.
3 comments:
I watched some of the hearing on C-Span last night (they did a replay of it). He was lying. It certainly looked that way.
The damning evidence was Petite's deposition.
I think Pettitte and Knoblauch's depostition are both damning. I thought McNamee came across very confident and credible. I think the fact that he admitted to lying before makes him more credible. Again, the silly congressmen that were pointing out McNamee's previous lies didn't seem to understand why he was lying. He was lying before to protect Clemens and his other clients. It appeared that he didn't want this whole thing to blow up. However, now that it did, there is no reason for him to hide anymore.
The other thing that I found ridiculous was how partisan the members of the committee were. Tom Davis and a few others were clearly supporting Roger. The other members didn't seem like they were supporting either but they seemed to understand that the evidence did not stack up to Roger's claims of innocence. I didn't like that some of the committee members got personal with McNamee. I thought that was uncalled for.
The only thing I can gather from Roger's claims are that one he has truly convinced himself that he is innocent or that he knows that this is a "he said, he said" sort of thing and there is no way that there is enough evidence to send him to jail for perjury.
Again, for me, I don't believe Roger.
I am curious what type of conversation Roger and Pettitte will have when they see each other.
Probably a pretty uncomfortable one.
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