Clemens-McNamee flap is all spin-doctoring

BY NEIL BEST | neil.best@newsday.com

January 10, 2008

The Roger Clemens-Brian McNamee melodrama primarily is being tried in the court of public opinion, and that by definition entails media spin - relentless, expensive, shameless spin.

Latest example: A public relations firm working for Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, has been sending mass e-mails to journalists not only to update them on news but also to comment on it.

Some e-mails merely have referenced independent stories that support Clemens' case, and others have been for background purposes only.

But one yesterday that came with no such limitation took issue with a Frank Deford commentary on NPR, of all places, in which he interprets the tape of Friday's Clemens-McNamee phone call in a way the Clemens camp found misleading.

Here was the message to reporters: "I know you're all independent thinkers, but before something so blatantly untrue [and irresponsible, given the fact that you can hear the tape anytime anywhere] becomes the stuff of urban legend, I thought I'd correct the record."

Of course, the beauty and curse of the tape is that it is so ambiguous it can be interpreted to suit just about any theory.