The Circus Was In Washington, D.C. Today

Extra, extra, read all about it. Here.

And we're not talking Ringing Brothers, either.

We're talking the Congressional committee investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN in New York were aghast at the performance of the committee, particular Republicans Dan Burton and Christopher Shays, who, to them, appeared to be attack dogs supporting Roger Clemens. From their reports, the whole committee hearing seemed like a circus.

Of course, that might be defaming the term "circus" and the performers who entertain millions of people every year.

This hearing was far from entertaining. Plain and simple, these Congressmen cannot draw flies for their daily work, so they have to draw attention to themselves by holding hearings on what really should be an internal baseball matter because they know they'll draw media attention. Your tax dollars helped fund today's histrionics, and I daresay that they could be put to better use helping trying to solve a whole host of much more important problems. Yes, I don't want our kids to think that using performance-enhancing drugs is cool. But I also want them to be safe and have a fiscally sound government and be well-educated and able to compete for jobs in an international workforce. Compared to those overarching goals, whether Roger Clemens took steroids is relatively unimportant.

And what was with the visceral attacks on Brian McNamee? The Congressmen who did so should have known better. Any (good) lawyer knows that people with problematic pasts could be telling the truth and so-called heroes could be lying through their teeth. Any (good) lawyer knows that when you take on a matter, you shouldn't assume anything. You should seek the facts and build the case. It didn't seem like that's what certain Congressmen did today.

No wonder why Congress's public approval rating is plum awful.

Or, put in baseball terms, well below the Mendoza Line.