Burton’s prime time smack down

Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., was front and center yesterday at the hearings on steroids in baseball. Burton appeared to side with pitcher Roger Clemens, while repeatedly attacking Clemens’ former trainer Brian McNamee.

McNamee has said he injected Clemens on numerous occasions with illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens categorically denied those allegations. Both testified under oath yesterday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“Roger Clemens is a baseball titan, and with all these lies, you have destroyed him and his reputation,” Burton ranted. “How can we believe you? … This kind of circus really bothers me.”

Despite his disdain for “this kind of circus,” Burton was eager to talk about it afterward, making a remote appearance on WFNI-AM 1070. The appearance was no doubt a ratings booster for WFNI in its afternoon drive-time war with local sports talk stations WNDE-1260 AM and WXLW-AM 950. After the interview, WFNI host Eddie White took a beating from callers wondering why he didn’t question Burton on his unequal treatment of Clemens and McNamee.

So, in keeping with the trend of tracking winners and losers in this saga, do you think WFNI was a winner in the ratings war for putting Burton on the air? How did White handle the interview? And what about Burton, was he merely grandstanding yesterday or truly trying to learn the truth?