Guns-a-blazin' (periodic liveblog of the Clemens business)

Still not liveblogging, Ok, I'm sort of liveblogging.

You gotta love Clemens' opening statement. Defiant, unequivocal. A bit over-heated, but that's the Clemens we know and love. You can also tell that Roger wrote his statements himself as opposed to reading something Hardin' put together (Hardin, by the way, has the look of a man who has no control over his client. He's peaceful. Resigned. Thinking about some motion he has pending in another case).

McNamee has now directly contradicted Clemens. Someone has now lied under oath.

Bonus: "While I liked and admired Roger Clemens, I never trusted him." I don't think sympathy is all that relevant here, but McNamee -- for all of his faults -- comes off as the far more sympathetic figure here.

While I still think this is a waste of Congress' time, this is grand theatre.

Bonus part II: Before the first question to Clemens, Congressman Elijah Cummings asks Clemens if he knows he is under oath.

You're not going to have a good day when that's your first question.

Update: Elijah Cummings is pretty much a moron. Clemens says Andy Pettitte "misremembers" what Clemens told him. In order to impeach him, Cummings offeres what Andy Pettitte's wife, prefacing it by saying that all of her info is based on what Andy Pettitte said. Dude, if Andy "misremembers" how can his wife have any better information?

Update: Clemens won't admit that he told Pettitte that his wife took HGH. Fine line to walk, there, Roger.

Update: "Mr. Clemens, you testified during your deposition that Mr. McNamee injected your wife in your bedroom without your knowledge."

We know what he meant, but man, that's something that doesn't read well in a transcript . . .

Update: Now McNamee is being hammered over keeping the syringes and his own multiple lies.

For entertainment purposes, this thing has definitely delivered. For legal purposes it's an utter mess. Neither of these guys look good. Neither of them have a viable civil case against the other. When this is over, both need to stand down and simply go away for a while.

Update: With apologies to Dave Barry, I'd like to note that "Palpable mass on the right buttock of Roger Clemens" would be an excellent name for a rock band.

Update: Waxman accuses Clemens of trying to influence his ex-nanny's testimony! The only other time I've seen a lawyer stand up and angrilly point his finger at a Congressional committee was Tom Hagen in Godfather II!

This is just awesome stuff.

Update: Forgive me, but ESPN's feed doesn't always have the names of the representatives up on the screen, so I'll have to identify the current questioner as the gray-haired African American gentleman." Sorry. Anyway, he's asking Clemens why his investigators asked McNamee if there was a paper trail, etc., with the insinuation that Clemens' people were up to no good. At times like these I wish I had the ability to jump in someone's brain a-la Being John Malkovich. If I did, I'd make Roger say "well, I suppose I could have told my investigators to go out and do a half-assed investigation which provides me no information, but I decided to go in the other direction."

Update: The distinguished former prosecutor with the silve combover opines that that the legal case against Clemens -- not that there actually is one at the moment, but still -- is "weak." I agree. If they had him dead to rights on perjury, we would have seen more of it today. As for "did he do steroids," well, that's a weak case too, even if I tend to think he actually did. Ultimately, this is a matter of evidence, not belief, and we need to remember that.

Update: Clemens is getting the hang of this thing. His current "I'm an easy person to find" monologue is pretty sweet, even if it has nothing to do with anything.

Update: I would have wagered $1000 that Roger wouldn't know what a vegan is. I'm glad he didn't let me down. Dude probably brushes his teeth with cow marrow.

Update: The "why would you take B-12 if it wasn't medically indicated" and "why would you let McNamee make chiropractic adjustments if he's not a chiropractor" questions are pretty obtuse. He's a pro athlete. Remember: pro athletes are nuts.

Update: A congressman asks McNamee if he thinks his previous lies hurts his credibility. McNamme says no. Response: "Well shame on you."

Update: Congressman with slicked-back hair and red tie notes that this was supposed to be about steroids in baseball, not all McNamee-Clemens. He's right, but since no one else cares, why should Congress? He also called it a "show trial," which is even righter. By the way, I love this guy. His next question is about how McNamee can both know that his phone call with Clemens was being taped and then later claim surprise and outrage that the substance of the conversation -- McNamee's son's health -- was aired like it was. Pretty good question.

Update: I gotta go into a meeting, so I'm offline for a while. If this is still going on when I'm done, I'll continue. If it's not, I will have a wrap up post later this afternoon.