Politicians Weigh in on Bonds [J. Mark English]

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, toasted Barry Bonds with the following statement:

"Tonight, Barry Bonds etched his name into baseball's history books and took his rightful place among sport's immortals," Pelosi said. "It was a great night for baseball and a great night for San Francisco -- the crowd went wild. It was particular exciting to see Willie Mays embrace him on the field and see Hank Aaron congratulate him on the Jumbotron. As a season ticket holder, I am particularly glad it happened on the Giants' Italian night."

After all why shouldn't she toast him? San Francisco is in the district that she represents as a member of Congress. But calling him an immortal may have been going a little too far. And the Hank Aaron video on the jumbotron looked more like a hostage tape then something that Aaron enjoyed doing...

One the flip side, President George W. Bush, a former owner of the Texas Rangers, declined to even call Barry Bonds to offer up congratulations. This is from Reuters:

President George W. Bush didn't watch and didn't call, but the White House offered his congratulations for Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run and also used the opportunity to condemn steroid use in sports.

Bonds hit the 756th home run of his career to set a new Major League mark on Tuesday night, sparking wild celebrations among his hometown San Francisco fans and mixed reaction elsewhere because of past steroid use allegations against him.

White House spokesman Tony Snow offered no explanation on Wednesday for why Bush, a big baseball fan and former part owner of the Texas Rangers, had made no congratulatory call to the San Francisco Giants slugger.