On Monday, July 9, 2012 8:20:45 AM UTC-7, mike wrote:
>
> havnt they got to 'bust' him first? I wouldnt write his
> cycling obituary yet: he has a lot of influence in the US. The
> criminal charges were dropped remember?
>
> It seems all his former teamates except Landis are
> too scared to testify publicly against him. And if the
> Republicans win in November I suspect that the FBI
> and Novitsky will come under a lot of pressure to drop
> the whole matter "for lack of evidence". And no doubt if
> he was nailed, he would like Landis try too take a lot
> of people down with him. It would blow the sport to bits,
> not just the TDF. He won other races as well.
Dumbass,
The criminal case was dropped because it was weak
and indirect, because doping is not a crime. Not
due to supernatural influence LANCE might have on
the FedGov. Unfortunately for him, the "not a crime"
part is irrelevant to USADA, just like the rules
of evidence.
LANCE's lawyers blew it with the "kangaroo court" filing.
They did well enough against the Novitsky investigation
by keeping their filings legitimate and saving the bluster
for their press releases (no matter how much Lafferty
hates Fabiani, he doesn't seem to have been as big an
idiot then as everyone assumed).
Whether LANCE gets off of this one has nothing to do
with Republicans and November. They don't care much
compared to all their other "domestic priorities"
(featherbedding) and the FBI and Novitsky are long out
of the picture - the criminal case was dropped, remember?
Novitsky is hopefully back investigating tainted meat,
where he might actually do some good. The Dept
of Justice or other political organization has
very little sway over USADA.
Tygart doesn't care how many race results have to be
rewritten if he nails LANCE. The viability of the sport
is not one of his mandates, nor is providing the suspect
with the evidence or an un-stacked deck. It isn't a criminal
trial, so he doesn't have to play by those rules. He does
remind me a little of that dialogue in "A Man for All Seasons"
where the young man says "Why, I'd strike down every law
in England to get at the Devil!"
to which Thomas More replies, "And when the last law was down,
and the Devil turned on you?"
But hey, what's a little collateral damage in the name
of cleaning up sport? The real Thomas More was a genocidel
religious fanatic, so who's counting.
Fredmaster Ben