That's a nice exemption you have there...shame if something happened to it.

So now the Republicans are deciding who can or cannot own a Major League Baseball Team. From the DCCC Weblog, as reported in Roll Call:

While the Soros-Ledecky group is not seen as the frontrunner to win the bidding for the Nationals, who should be awarded to their new owner at the end of the 2005 season, the very prospect that Soros could have a stake in the team is enough to irritate Congressional Republicans.

"I think Major League Baseball understands the stakes," said Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis (R), the Northern Virginia lawmaker who recently convened high-profile steroid hearings. "I don't think they want to get involved in a political fight."

Davis, whose panel also oversees District of Columbia issues, said that if a Soros sale went through, "I don't think it's the Nats that get hurt. I think it's Major League Baseball that gets hurt. They enjoy all sorts of exemptions" from anti-trust laws.

But of course it is okay for, oh I don't know, George W. Bush to have owned the Texas Rangers. Fred Vincy points out more examples of Bush contributors owning baseball teams without fear of retribution. I would note that the Boston Red Sox ownership seems to lean towards the Democrats. Again, an example of the Team of Good prevailing over the Evil Empire!