All Barry, all the timeYes, this is news. The guy who broke the all-time home run record has been indicted. It even belongs on page one of the local paper. But is it the most important thing happening in the world right now, worth two-thrids of the entire Chronicle front page, the top six or seven minutes of the evening newscasts and all the talk shows?
No, it's not. I have to agree with Dave Zirin: This is a silly indictment and a distraction from the real issues of the world.
I almost (almost) feel sorry for Barry Bonds. Think about his dilemma here: He goes before a grand jury, and is promised that if he tells the truth, he will never be prosecuted for it -- and anything he says will remain totally secret. But Bonds knows better; there's no way his testimony will remain confidential. Whatever he says is going to leak out (guess what -- it did), and if he admits anything, his career is over.
Of course, if he hedges, then he can be indicted for perjury (if the U.S. Attorney's Office has nothing better to do, which it apparently doesn't).
I heard somone ask on Forum this morning why Bonds just didn't tell the truth to the grand jury. That assumes, of course, that he's guilty, that he actually lied, and I have no way of knowing that. But let's, for the purpose of argument, say he did lie. Why? Perhaps because he didn't trust the grand jury process. That's a reasonable point of view that later events totally vindicated.
Does that justify lying under oath? Of course not. But I can understand what he must have been thinking.
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Comments (1)
Yeah, I'm with you on the distraction angle. There is rarely a story on the front page of the NY Times that I skip. I certainly skipped that one today.
I mean, really, who cares?
Posted by no one in particular | November 16, 2007 06:02 PM