(Note: In the interest of speed, I’m not going to be concerned with typos nor other editing. Here’s a link to the live hearings, if you happen to be reading this in a timely manner.)
12:03 p.m. Just tuned in to the hearings via computer. McNamee is being interviewed. I know I came late to the proceedings, but it seems like the committee is not being very friendly towards him. Not that he deserves it any dispensation, but still…
12:10 p.m. Someone should tell McNamee the world is pronounced “am-pewls,” not “am-pulls.” He doesn’t make a very compelling witness, hesitating on his answers, stalling, making the committee member repeat himself. Clemens, on the other hand, is more forceful in his responses, almost angry.
Boy they must have some lousy sound system, since now Clemens is also asking the members to repeat their questions.
12:16 Clemens: “Brian McNamee has never given me growth hormone or steroids.”
Rep. Carolyn Maloney is really sucking up, stating how proud she is as a New Yorker of what he has done. “Why did you refuse to talk to Sen. Mitchell when he reached out to talk to you before the report was released?”
Now she’s asking about the differences between his comments on 60 Minutes and afterwards. Clemens response was that he was never told about the request from Mitchell’s people, and that if he had been told,m he would have been there “in a New York minute.”
12:21 Now he’s throwing his agents under the bus for not telling him. Although he said he had not fired them, as Maloney says she would have done if her staff had been neglectful in the same way.
12:22 Rep. Souder said the proceedings were “a disappointment.”
“It’s better not to talk about the past than to lie about the past. Someone is not telling the truth here today.” A more comprehensive view when the transcripts come out.
(It’s amazing to watch this. I wonder if all Congressional hearings are this passionate. It’s also amazing to consider how much time)
McNamee agreed he was really ticked off by Clemens’ playing the phone conversation and also he is “convinced” the needles will show an illegal substance, although he just says he’s speculating.
“The DNA [evidence] will not disremember,” said Souder, warning about
Incredibly disappointed with the players If family’s don;t talk about the drug abuse in their neighborhoods,”
Baseball players and management think they’re above it all, Souder said, that they think they’re a snitch if they talk about it. “This wall of silence is disgusting.”
12:29 Q from Rep. Claire (?): asked if he could look at his two children that Roger Clemens played the game honestly and without help.
“Yes, sir….Absolutely. I took no short cuts,” was the reply, followed by a recitation of his work ethic. Looks like he’s getting emotional here. Bringing up his late sister-in-law, who was killed because of drugs. “You can tell your boys I did it the right way.” Now he asked what uniform he would wear going into the Hall of Fame; wonder who’s side he’s on.
Now he’s going off on McNamee. No deal for testifying, he asks? No, says, McNamee.
12:36 Uh-oh, looks like the Nanny is refuting some evidence about a party at Jose Canseco’s that Clemens said he did not attend, calling into question the accuracy of other testimony. The committee asked for her contact info and wonders why Clemens took so long to turn over the information and why he spoke with her before they did.
Clemens’ lawyer rises and says this line of questioning is unfair. The chair agrees but keeps pushing the question.
The chair says he doesn’t know if this was the smartest way to have handled this, but also says he doesn’t know if there’s any impropriety (“the worst approach”) in that Clemens
Other lawyer: “innuendo is terrible.” This line of questioning is always going to seem like Clemens was doing something wrong by talking to her before the committee got to her.
Clemens: “I’m hurt by [that]statement.”
Rep. Norton: Why did Clemens’ continue to employ McNamee after all these disagreements (including giving his wife an injection of HGH)?
Clemens: “I’m a forgiving person.” This from a man who threw a bat at Mike Piazza in the World Series.
Clemens doesn’t appear very bright, taking McNamee on his word about too many things.
12:51 Recess. I gotta get back to work. But I’m glad I heard this. The newspapers, regardless of how thorough they’ll be, including providing all the transcripts, will cherry pick the highlights, probably showing Clemens at his best and worst; McNamee doesn’t appear to have a best at this point. But the media can’t transfer the feeling of witnessing the scene first hand.
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