Your Tax Dollars at Work

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is ticked off at the NFL. He wants to know why the league destroyed the evidence as it relates to the Spygate case, and he wants to bring NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the issue.

Specter cites the sweet antitrust exemption that has been afforded the NFL as his grounds for calling Goodell, and he believes the public has a right to be sure about “the integrity of the game.”

Then he compared the NFL to the CIA destroying interrogation tapes. Oh.

“That requires an explanation,” Specter said. “The N.F.L. 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 C.I.A. destruction of tapes. Or any time you have records destroyed.”

Well, except it’s not. Not really. On the one hand you have the possible willful destruction of evidence as it pertains to a vitally important national security issue, and on the other you have a possible rogue element operating in a professional sports league.

Specter goes on to claim that he asked about evidence regarding Spygate as far back as Nov. 15. The NFL said that’s news to them.

Joe Browne, the N.F.L.’s executive vice president for internal affairs, said, “The irony is that we have been in contact with the senator’s office several times in recent weeks.” He added that “the issue of these letters was not discussed.”

So, after Congress cleans up the steroid mess in baseball and unravels Spygate once and for all, we can expect them to address the coming economic recession and the war in Iraq, right? Right?