Meanwhile, with the power to give out our money as they wish, congressmen take campaign money from lobbyists and industries they regulate. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is only the latest poster boy for that, but boy is he a good one. There may be no one who better represents all that is wrong with Washington. The powerful Senate Banking Committee chairman got a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide; he has received $280,000 in campaign contributions from troubled insurer AIG; and he made sure that AIG executive bonuses were untouched by Congress -- then claimed for 24 hours that he knew nothing about it, before reporters forced him to admit the truth.
Polls show Dodd is in re-election trouble. But don't hold your breath: Despite record-low approval ratings for Congress last year, we continued sending our congressmen back at about a 90 percent retention rate.
We have, sadly, been corrupted.
I have to say, the worst allegation I've heard about Chris Dodd is
not that he's in the pocket of banks and insurers--financial companies
naturally seek to curry favor with the Senate Banking Committee, but I
don't really see the case that he's sold us out for his benefit. No,
the more damning case is that the Senate Banking Committee was
basically non-functional in the early part of the crisis, because Dodd
was running for president. Even if early action could have saved us
money and pain later--and that's a big if--I recently heard a plausible case made that such action was made impossible by
his presidential campaign. But somehow, no one finds that offensive, or even notable.
I'll be sad to see him go; I've been proud to have him as my senator. He was wrong to protect AIG in the way he did, and wrong to lie about it. I urge everyone, however, to look over his record regarding warantless wiretapping and other executive branch power grabs during the Bush administration. He was one of the most vocal and important critics at a time when criticism was met with great resistance, and he deserves credit for that at least.
How's his record regarding warrantless wiretapping during the Obama administration?
How's Obama's record about warrantless wiretapping during the Obama administration?!
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
No, the new boss is determined to DO what the old one was only accused of, despite his pre election BS
I've got more than my share of differences with Dodd, but he really is one of the few Members of Congress(R or D) who I've come to respect for at least making an attempt at intellectual honesty and sincerity. Feingold (who I disagree with even more often) is probably the only Senator I respect more. There's a handful of (mostly House) Republicans I can think of that run a distant third. Almost everyone else - just a bunch of conniving, opportunistic hacks.
Chris Dodd is a walking endorsement for term limits. He should go and take Holy Joe with him. As a CT resident my dream is that Spitzer buys a home in Greenwich from some hopefully bankrupt hedge fundie and runs for CT Senator (or Governor, since Rell is dreadful). Spitzer, and Andy Cuomo for that matter, are self-aggrandizing creeps who I wouldn't support in normal times but they've got the right focus for these times. Sort of like Patton and MacArthur in WWII: sometimes a demagogue is the right person for the job.
But aren't campaign contributions federally protected free speech? You don't want to be against free speech do you?
Megan:
What would selling us out for his benefit look like?
We're not foolish enough to think he wrote a check with "the American people" as the amount.
Chris Dodd will win reelection. By the time November 2010 rolls around, everyone will have forgotten the flat out lie about the bonuses. And why should anyone care- the Treasury Secretary lied about cheating on his taxes and no one cared.
Must agree, Yancey. The American people truly are worthless and dumb, considering the crap they just elected.
The dumb worthless Americans can only elect a crap President from the crap candidates they nominated. I remember thinking, this is the best we can do?
One of my fb quotes:
If God wanted us to vote, He'd have given us candidates.
A fb bumper sticker I made:
Lesser Evil for President
(usable in any presidential election year)
"No, the more damning case is that the Senate Banking Committee was basically non-functional in the early part of the crisis, because Dodd was running for president. "
-----wow, Megan, just why do you think this is bad, and then you voted for NotMyPresident, who thought that running for president was more important than returning to Washington and doing his job when the crisis hit in the fall?
How blindingly obtuse are you?
wow, Megan, just why do you think this is bad, and then you voted for NotMyPresident
She didn't vote for Obama.
Yep, Megan didn't vote at all.
sorry, my mistake then. I guess she just supported the guy, or has made so many excuses for him, I got confused.
still, the lack of criticism by her on NotMyPresident over that is deafening.
"No, the more damning case is that the Senate Banking Committee was basically non-functional in the early part of the crisis, because Dodd was running for president."
So what's the House Banking Committee's excuse? Has Barney Frank done a better job of regulating that Chris Dodd?
Wasn't Dodd a firm supporter of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and behind the origina shenanigans that set this whole crisis up?
Wasn't Barney Frank?!
The whole lot--rent seekers and hoors.
I want y'all to throw the bums out. While I re-elect my powerful incumbent congresscritters who bring home the bacon. One man's bacon is another man's pork.
Next to Term Limits and a Balanced Budget amendment my wish would be for an amendment requiring that no one cuuld run for the Presidency who'd been a member of Congress in the 12 months leading up to the election. It would solve a lot of the problem we have with "vanity" candidates like Dodd, who realistically had no chance but knew their congressional seat was safe if they failed.