I got this note from a friend and colleague a little while after Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 19th:

“And meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, CIA officials and others who lied to Congress in sworn testimony about Iraq go free. If we can ‘look forward, not backward’ on torture, perjury, lying the nation into war, abuses of civil liberties, etc., what’s the big deal with steroid users lying about it? Roger Clemens didn’t kill anyone or start any wars. That was his mistake.”

To which we can add the whitewash by the Justice Department of the U.S. Attorneys’ firings under Bush, the gentle handling of Tom DeLay – and the anticipation of more of the same in the investigation of suspected destruction of torture tapes by CIA personnel.

This is not to make light of what Clemens may have done. It’s only to provide some context for Justice Department priorities.