Posted on 08/10/2007 11:46:19 PM PDT by L.A.Justice
President Bush has not been one to let the facts get in the way of decisions, but when it comes to Barry Bonds, he is willing to let them speak for themselves.
A day after Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record, Bush told Fox News that only time will tell if Bonds' mark is tainted by steroids.
"There is a lot of speculation about Barry Bonds, and my only advice for people is to just let history be the judge. Let's find out the facts, and then everybody's opinion, one way or the other, will be verified or not verified," Bush said. "In the meantime, however, I think it's appropriate to recognize this man can hit the baseball."
Bush, who said he had just finished congratulating Bonds via telephone, left it up to baseball writers to decide the new home run king's legacy - when they cast their Hall of Fame ballots years from now.
"In terms of how baseball reacts, it really depends on what the facts are, and it's going to be up to them to make the determination as to asterisk - but more importantly, it will be the Hall of Fame," the President said. "That'll be the ultimate decision point for the baseball writers."
Bush added that he is "dead set against steroids being in baseball," and referred to his 2004 State of the Union address, in which he warned against the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. The President has a history with Major League Baseball, having served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers from 1989-1994 - a time when admitted steroid user Jose Canseco was on the team. In his book, "Juiced," Canseco wrote that he introduced steroids to teammates Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez during that period, an assertion all three players have denied.
Palmeiro failed a steroid test in 2005 while playing for the Orioles.
Shut up, you a-hole.
I think Matt Marrone, aside from being a marrone, is also some sort of journalist and we all know that journalists usually do not let facts stand in the way of an agenda. So, at least he is writing from his level of experience.
But he was wrong about the Medicare prescription drug bill, steel tariffs, the farm bill, the Ted Kennedy education bill, not vetoing the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, and the illegal immigration issue.
Now he looks weak by pussyfooting around an inconsequential issue like this Barry Bonds steroid cheating episode.
All journalists today are "some sort of journalist"--in other words, they're not JOURNALISTS, end of sentence, but op-ed-writers-in-waiting, or Democrat spokespersons in waiting, or "Opinionators". Whatever happened to just plain journalists?
Of course, the answer is "Woodward and Bernstein." Journalists today aren't content to just report facts. They want to be celebs, they want people to listen to what they say and follow their lead.
Another idiot chimes in with the canned pc opinion, thanks W.
The facts are in, Bonds ADMITTED to using steroids, just that he didn’t know they were steroids when he was using them. He thought his head doubling in size and putting on 30 pounds of pure muscle in his mid 30’s was really cool so who wants to know what you’re taking.
These are the facts, either Barry Bonds used steroids and other illegal performance enhancers EXTENSIVELY -— OR -— Barry Bonds and Balco, etc. have cracked the genetic code and have made the greatest scientific discovery since the wheel, take your choice. It’s either or.
Bonds used steroids as long as baseball didn’t have a policy against it. His defense here is simple and nothing is going to subtract these homers or their effect. All of these figures in baseball are completely safe and legal. The dimwits who run the sport...simply refused to believe they had an issue...until it was way too late.
So now...somewhere in the shadows stand a couple of ghosts...players like Mantle, Ruth, and Gehrig standing there...knowing that these present day players don’t match up to the likes of them...and there really isn’t much they say or do about it. And we the fans? We wait for some commission to bless Bonds, Sosa, and McGuire...so life just goes on. Somethings not right...but we simply have to accept that fact.
Did baseball have a policy against rape and murder??????
Steroids were ILLEGAL in the United States of America, or else somebody is going to have to answer for all the people who were locked up in prison during the time Bonds and others were taking steroids. The dimwits who write news articles and host sports shows are too stupid for words. So this is no defense at all, just a Clintonian play on words like “it’s about sex”.
The biggest travesty in this mess is that these same idiot sportswriters and journalists dare mention Bonds as one of the all time greats.
First ballot hall of famer? Yes no doubt, Barry Bonds great player. One of the best ever, NO WAY IN HELL, he was NEVER in that conversation when he was in his ACTUAL PRIME. He was only mentioned in those terms after the drugs.
Mark McGwire is in hiding, remember how he was worshipped!! Remember his cowardly performance in Washington? Sammy Sosa looks like someone stuck a pin in him and deflated him, same for MANY other guys.
Myself and other athletes I know were laughing at the great home run derby with Sosa and McGwire. It was a total fraud just how Bonds becoming Babe Ruth starting at 35 is a fraud.
I know what reality is, but it seems 90% of America lives in this fog that you don’t really know unless ther’es videotape of him using and the syringe is confiscated on videotape and tested for steroids and that it can be confirmed that Mark Fuhrman was not within 3 states at the time of the testing.
Again, either Bonds used drugs and a LOT OF THEM or he has made a scientific breakthrough that he should share with the rest of the world. Those are the options.
Have you ever seen a movie called The Front Page? It was made in the 1930's I think, one of the first talkies, based on a play writen about 4 years before the movie. In that movie they have journalists making up facts to fit the particular paper's agenda. So decades before Woodward and Bernstien journalists were "some sort of journalist."
The main difference is back then a major city had many more papers then today and so they had to fight each other which helped in diluting the particular agenda of a single organ.
Today, most Lamestreamers defer to the New York Times, which just is a situation that shouldn't be in a country with a free press.
Sure, but I'm saying today's journalists aren't being influenced by an old play/movie to do what they're doing (and have always done, if one looks into the history of journalism). I'm saying TODAY's journalists are all trying to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. I think the evidence is overwhelming.
Good point about the NYT influence on a free press. I think the Times' publication of the op-ed "A War We Can Win" is causing quite a few writers to tremble in fear, waiting for the Gray Lady to come up with its talking points on why journalists shouldn't take what it published all that seriously.
How does he look weak here? He congratulated the man and is willing to wait until all of the facts are out.
Either way this is just "journalists" grandstanding once again.
Had he not congratulated Bonds, he would have been criticized (and probably accused of racism) for that, too.
You can count the number of sports “journalists” on one hand. Networks like ESPN exist to hype professional sports. There is no journalism on ESPN, as that might threaten the symbiotic relationship that the network has with its product.
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