Lies and the Lying Liars

OK. Fine. I'll put in my two cents on Roger Clemens. As all this has unfolded I have heard different people telling me they believe Roger or they don't. My friend, Slumlord, was saying he was starting to believe Roger. I don't. I've believed McNamee since the beginning and after hearing the news today about his supposed meeting with Jim Murray from 2004 I believe him even more.

I am a good liar and I know that there is a fundamental rule to crafting a good lie - you have to keep it simple. The bigger and more complex your lie gets the harder it gets to keep it up. In addition, the last thing that a liar wants is to have to talk about their lie a lot and they try not to embellish it further because when you do, inevitably you will contradict yourself and give away the lie. This is why I believe McNamee.

I'm not saying that he is a good liar, I don't know the man personally and cannot tell you his capacity to even pull one over on a 5 year old. But here's something I do know, if he's lying this is one of the more convoluted lies in history. If he ever gets found out as lying, he's going to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

What does it talk to believe Roger? If McNamee is lying, it would appear that he is only lying about Roger. Pettitte has already come out and basically admitted that he used as have others that were named in the report. So if he told the truth about them why would he lie about Roger, and not only lie but lie to such an extreme and with such detail. This seems to violate the rules of lying to the biggest degree. You give no details about the things you are truthful about (Pettitte) but you give extreme detail about the lie (Roger)?? Who does that?

No supposedly if he is lying, that would mean that his latest story is a lie as well. Because if Roger was never taking then there would be no reason for McNamee to meet with Murray and express concern over Roger failing a drug test. And if this is also a lie then this is one incredibly easy to disprove because Murray should be able to come out and just say, "That never happened". To believe Roger, we have to believe that McNamee is willing to risk jail not only by lying under the terms of his deal but to just beg for people to prove he lied by inventing some new story about a phantom meeting over the risk of Roger failing a drug test. Can we see why believing Roger is getting pretty tough?

Something else that gnaws at me, the silence of Andy Pettitte. This man is supposedly Roger's best friend and was close to him during their years playing together. He has said nothing about Roger. He admitted to using HGH yet has not once said anything about Roger not taking anything. Don't you think if he knew that Roger never took anything that he would have backed him up? Said something? I think it was telling that Pettitte didn't want to testify to Congress. I think he knows Roger used and doesn't want to sell his friend up the river.

Back to the original point. Big lies are hard to keep. Adding more details and ripples work against the liar. McNamee has not wavered and has added more details to interactions with Roger's lawyers, agents, etc. Roger has simply denied. No real details beyond "I took Lidocaine & B-12"...perhaps he got his B-12 from the same guy who gave Palmeiro his shots. If McNamee is lying, he might be the greatest liar this side of the Devil.