You might think it ludicrous - even beyond the pale - for a United States Senator to suggest hauling the commissioner of the National Football League up to Capitol Hill to explain his handling of "Spygate," the by now insufferably beaten-to-death rules controversy involving the New England Patriots and a video camera. In fact, you might say such an absurd abuse of political firepower would be analogous to concocting the "magic bullet theory" to backstop a discredited Warren Commission or savaging a noble woman in the interest of salvaging a shameful Supreme Court nomination.
Then again, you might be Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has now accomplished all three without so much as blushing.
Now, I don't honestly believe that Specter's Super Bowl week headline-hogging belongs in the same paragraph with his abuses of physics and Anita Hill. No, I pile on the hyperbole merely as a prelude to Specter's own words - and his own tortured use of analogy - in explaining why he believes this sort of sports silliness rises to a level that requires the scrutiny of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A presumably straight-faced Specter, who's foremost questioning the NFL's decision to destroy videotapes related to "Spygate," tells the New York Times: "The NFL has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption. The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game. It's analogous to the CIA destruction of tapes."
Breathtaking, even by political standards.
Let's skip by the antitrust and integrity claptrap.
"It's analogous to the CIA destruction of tapes."
What he refers to there, of course, are CIA tapes that were destroyed by the CIA because they showed CIA employees torturing prisoners and the CIA feared the tapes would become public.
The tapes the NFL destroyed - after severely penalizing the Patriots for having created them - purportedly showed images of opponents' coaches giving hand signals.
Torture on the one hand.
Hand signals on the other.
By now those of you who don't know for certain are probably suspecting that I live in New England and will be rooting for the Patriots come Sunday.
Guilty as charged.
However, I'd like to believe that even the most rabid Patriots hater out there a) would believe the Senate Judiciary Committee has more important matters to consider; b) wouldn't conflate cheating at football - if that's what you believe the Patriots did - with torturing human beings; and, c) consider Arlen Specter an arse.
(Update: Commissioner explains what that blowhard Specter doesn't understand.)
(Update 2: Pro Football Weekly's Matt Sohn agrees, noting the obvious: This isn't a legal issue.)
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But What COULD He Be Doing?
I think it's great that Senator Specter is investigating Spygate. It uses up his time so he can't go mucking about in something important that might have a real impact on MY life. I say let the Senate investigate the heck out of this, and steroids, and any other sports related scandals they find.
You're missing the point
He's not talking about the actual act of cheating and comparing it to torturing foreign soldiers. He's comparing destruction of evidence to destruction of evidence. No matter what anyone thinks did or did not happen on the field, as a fan who supports the NFL with part of my paycheck, I feel entitled to know what actually existed on those tapes. Whether they issue any punishment because of it is irrelevant, the fans deserve to know what was actually going on. In this media crazy era, everything about anything is eventually revealed but this was covered up. For a reason known only to the league, they decided to protect the Patriots from public scrutiny by destroying any evidence of cheating. Now I'm not saying that the Patriots have always cheated under Belichik or that they still are somehow, but they obviously had much more than just the Jets tape to turn over to the league and it was all immediately destroyed and swept under the rug.
Basically, you're comparing the wrong part of his statement. Look at the aftermath of the two issues and not the acts themselves because that is where the similarities lie. Stealing signals is nowhere near comparable to torture, but the cover up and destruction of evidence to protect an organization are pretty much spot on.
Stealing coaching signals is
Stealing coaching signals is not illegal under any statute; nor is destroying football video tapes that aren't the subject of a legal inquiry at the time of their destruction. Specter's baldfaced grandstanding serves not only to further undermine and denigrate the dignity of his position, but its also morally reprehensible to callously exploit victims of true suffering worldwide in support of the hometown team. He embarrasses the Senate, the country, and the state of Pennsylvania by his self-serving pandering, and no semantic dissection of his position can prop up his teetering logic.
Arlen Specter and spygate
How long has this man know of spygate and the destruction of the video tapes in question? Did he just find out a few days before the superbowl?
It seems to me that a man of his satute has more important things to do, like try to pass a stimulus package to get our economy and many out of work and struggling Americans back on their feet. Its too bad his beloved Philadelphia Eagles have turned into complete failures, but do not steal the spotlight from the accomplishments of The New England Patriots, the Ny Giants and the Super-bowl. I'm sure that the success of the New England Patriots is something that does not sit well with the distinguished fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, but as a United States Senator he should be above jealousy over the success of a competitor sports team. It seems many across the country are, but for him to abuse his power in this way and during such a time of crisis in our country is something that casts a shadow over him and his motives, but above all questions the integrity of the powerful United States Senate. Shame on him and shame on those who should have stood up to put him in his place and expose his foolishness.
"No matter what anyone
"No matter what anyone thinks did or did not happen on the field, as a fan who supports the NFL with part of my paycheck, I feel entitled to know what actually existed on those tapes."
Probably because you are part of the entitlement generation. You are entitled to nothing.