Senator Leahy Pulls Rug Out From Under Specter

[shmessy]

From today's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604013.html

Leahy is, after all, from New England and, as chairman, can thwart just about any hearing under his committee's auspices. And he's not giving much credence to Specter's probe into "Spygate," the Patriots' surreptitious videotaping of opponents' signals on the field.

In fact, Leahy (D-Vt.) wryly told On the Hill that Specter (Pa.) -- the ranking Republican on Judiciary and a die-hard fan of his hometown Philadelphia Eagles, who lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl three years ago -- is playing to Philly fans with his latest actions.

"He hasn't said anything to me about it. I would assume that if he REALLY wanted to [hold hearings], he would say something to me, NOT THE PRESS [emphasis mine]," Leahy said.

 

[Keegs]

Specter is probably doing horrible and trying everything to get the votes from Eagles fans.

the guy is a complete moron. what else does he have to hear before he understands that taping nothing to do with the Eagles' superbowl.

I'd also bet my left nut that he doesn't really care for the Eagles and is just trying to get those fans on his side.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Specter is probably doing horrible and trying everything to get the votes from Eagles fans.

the guy is a complete moron. what else does he have to hear before he understands that taping nothing to do with the Eagles' superbowl.

I'd also bet my left nut that he doesn't really care for the Eagles and is just trying to get those fans on his side.

He's actually announced he's not planning to run for re-election.

His motives are probably even baser--pure, unadulterated greed.

 

[juxtapoz15]

The one thing I don't get about this whole SpyGate II mess is that why isn't the league or anyone else launching a probe to see if other teams are/were doing this? Considering former coaches say that this is a common practice, why hasn't the league done an overall league investigation? I'm sure that other teams throughout the league have people similar to Matt Walsh that might have evidence or be able to testify under oath to other teams shenanigans.

Various Colts staff members have said that they do pipe in crowd noise, why not investigate that further? The only thing that stinks about this whole SpyGate mess is the fact that the Patriots got caught red handed. Now every team in the league has probably burnt all of their similar videos and stopped any other shenanigans that they were doing.

 

[BelichickFan]

When they talk about the real reason that Sphincter is doing it, I'll be happy, not when they suggest it's because Leahy is from NE and a Patriots fan.

 

[CTPatsFan]

Specter is probably doing horrible and trying everything to get the votes from Eagles fans.

the guy is a complete moron. what else does he have to hear before he understands that taping nothing to do with the Eagles' superbowl.

I'd also bet my left nut that he doesn't really care for the Eagles and is just trying to get those fans on his side.

He's not running again. Although his largest contributors (Comcast and their law firm's PAC-the one's who might have the most to gain with the loss of the NFL's Anti-trust exemption) might have a nice cushy lobbyist job in store for him.

The thing that bothers me most is that even if nothing else comes of this, the damage has already been done.

 

[CTPatsFan]

The one thing I don't get about this whole SpyGate II mess is that why isn't the league or anyone else launching a probe to see if other teams are/were doing this? Considering former coaches say that this is a common practice, why hasn't the league done an overall league investigation? I'm sure that other teams throughout the league have people similar to Matt Walsh that might have evidence or be able to testify under oath to other teams shenanigans.

Various Colts staff members have said that they do pipe in crowd noise, why not investigate that further? The only thing that stinks about this whole SpyGate mess is the fact that the Patriots got caught red handed. Now every team in the league has probably burnt all of their similar videos and stopped any other shenanigans that they were doing.

Probably all true, who knows. But the NFL probably just wanted it to go away. Whether or not any other teams were involved in similar practices is neither here nor there. The Pats were "caught" red-handed so some punishment had to be meted out. I think it's naive for anyone to think that the Pats were the only ones but as far as the NFL is concerned it doesn't do them any good to expand the investigation and bring other teams under the microscope.

Since there is legal betting on football and citizen's money is at stake, there is enough grey area for there to be a threat to the Anti-Trust exemption, or at least open it up to more scrutiny.

 

[upstater1]

Why would the league investigate other teams when there are no rules against doing any of this?

Investigate them for what?

In private, I expect Goodell to say, "Look, Arlen, there are no rules against stealing another team's signals. In fact, we condone it!!"

This is a PR problem, pure and simple. There is absolutely nothing to investigate.

 

[Rob0729]

The one thing I don't get about this whole SpyGate II mess is that why isn't the league or anyone else launching a probe to see if other teams are/were doing this? Considering former coaches say that this is a common practice, why hasn't the league done an overall league investigation? I'm sure that other teams throughout the league have people similar to Matt Walsh that might have evidence or be able to testify under oath to other teams shenanigans.

Various Colts staff members have said that they do pipe in crowd noise, why not investigate that further? The only thing that stinks about this whole SpyGate mess is the fact that the Patriots got caught red handed. Now every team in the league has probably burnt all of their similar videos and stopped any other shenanigans that they were doing.

The one questionable incident that I think got swept under the rug by the league AND THE MEDIA was Kerry Collins admitting that Jeff Fisher and Tony Dungy colluded on what they would call in certain situations of a game. Collins didn't even realize that he was admitting to his coach cheating so I believe that this happened. Why isn't Goodell investigating this? Why isn't anyone in the media even asking about this? Why is morons like Florio and Easterbrook so wrapped up in everything the Pats may have done wrong but no one has admitted to publically yet have let that one brush aside?

 

[Rob0729]

Knowing that Leahy was being the head of the Judiciary committee, I knew there had to be hard evidence for him to even consider it. Specter has admitted that his initial interest was in finding out if there was evidence of the Pats cheating in the Super Bowl between them and the Eagles? So basically he has used his Congressional powers to satisfy his own personal needs as an Eagles' fan. That is an abuse of power no matter how you want to slice it.

My guess is that unless Matt Walsh or someone else produces hard evidence of cheating, this whole thing will go nowhere. I wonder if Matt Walsh is pooping his pants because he never thought anyone would take him up on his offer to indemnify him.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

Knowing that Leahy was being the head of the Judiciary committee, I knew there had to be hard evidence for him to even consider it. Specter has admitted that his initial interest was in finding out if there was evidence of the Pats cheating in the Super Bowl between them and the Eagles? So basically he has used his Congressional powers to satisfy his own personal needs as an Eagles' fan. That is an abuse of power no matter how you want to slice it.

My guess is that unless Matt Walsh or someone else produces hard evidence of cheating, this whole thing will go nowhere. I wonder if Matt Walsh is pooping his pants because he never thought anyone would take him up on his offer to indemnify him.

if he tells one of his typical lies to congress, it could get ugly for him.

 

[shmessy]

Specter is probably doing horrible and trying everything to get the votes from Eagles fans.

the guy is a complete moron. what else does he have to hear before he understands that taping nothing to do with the Eagles' superbowl.

I'd also bet my left nut that he doesn't really care for the Eagles and is just trying to get those fans on his side.

Another one who is falling for the Specter smokescreen.

1) He isn't running for re-election in 2010.

2) What do former pols do when they get out? Corporate payrolls, Keegs.

3) Comcast, d%#*!@t. The big money is COUNTING ON YOU to fall for the fan smokescreen. Don't you realize that there is REAL corporate illegality happening there and you just let Specter off the hook when you fall for the "fan" smokescreen.