Shameless 'Titans' Atop The Hill

In 1997, he was the guest of the AT&T chairman and CEO in a practice round before the PGA Tour's annual Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Three weeks earlier, he had assumed chairmanship of a House committee that had approval over a legislative agency soon to award $5 billion in government contracts for long distance and local telecommunication services, with AT&T one of the companies trying to get a large piece of that action. AT&T reportedly also hosted a campaign fundraiser for him that week at a local restaurant.

This is the same Dan Burton who has been accused for many years of unethical campaign fundraising practices, a bullying, seemingly buffoonish Congressman, the Chicago Tribune once editorialized was a "crude, crass man who is a disgrace to his district, his state, his party and the House."

Hardly anyone in the print or broadcast media pointed out the incongruity of Burton being Clemens's most vocal supporter last week, though virtually everyone now agrees that the greatest pitcher of his generation surely came out of those hearings looking like a very guilty man. Live television, lousy legal advice and a hypocritical defender like Dan Burton can do that to a man, even a so-called titan.

E-Mail of The Week

I enjoyed reading your column this morning on Red Barber. Although I was a rabid Giant fan when I was young, I always listened to Red Barber, who I consider the greatest baseball announcer of all-time. You may be too young to remember, but in the 40s, Red used to broadcast Dodger road games from the studio using a Western Union feed to describe the game. It was remarkable how he made you feel that you were in the stands actually witnessing the game, even though you could hear the ticker in the background.

Gerald Post

Tampa, Fla.

Leonard Shapiro can be reached at Badgerlen@hotmail.com or Badgerlen@aol.com.