Poor Nancy Pelosi. Not only is she burdened with a congress full of swamp monsters, but some of them are swamp monsters who just won’t die – like Chris “Countrywide” Dodd.
Poor Nancy Pelosi. Not only is she burdened with a congress full of swamp monsters, but some of them are swamp monsters who just won’t die – like Chris “Countrywide” Dodd.
According to TheHill.com, “The Senate Ethics Committee is re-examining the participation of senators and staffers in a controversial VIP mortgage-lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp, according to a source familiar with the panel’s activities.”
"Oh, man," Christopher Dodd said, "I am so screwed."
Apparently new information concerning the corrupt (cross out corrupt) alleged sweetheart loans was recently obtained “from Bank of America, which now owns former Countrywide”
So what about Chris Dodd? According to the article “Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) benefited from the Countrywide VIP program. The panel cleared the senators of any wrongdoing but warned them that they should have exercised better judgment and should have questioned why they were being put in the “Friends of Angelo” VIP program.
If new information is discovered about Dodd’s and Conrad’s loans, any potential ethics committee investigation would encompass the new material and also could ensnare other senators’ offices.”
One astute blogger on the Hill’s website summed up the situation with extreme accuracy:
“This is going to leave a mark in Dodd’s Shorts!” By nuffsaid
“Countrywide” Chris Dodd was discussing the Gulf oil spill with Don Imus. As soon as Dodd tried to defend Obama by uttering the words “The last eight years…”, Imus went ballistic. It went downhill from there.
“Countrywide” Chris Dodd was discussing the Gulf oil spill with Don Imus. As soon as Dodd tried to defend Obama by uttering the words “The last eight years…”, Imus went ballistic.
It went downhill from there.
By the way, we just read the other day that said Imus is now a syndication success story and is carried on more stations than ever. That may be true, but if the show were really successful, wouldn’t it be able to book far better guests than corrupt lame duck senators?
All of a sudden Democrats are singing the praises of the Congressional Budget Office.
But quick, who were the three biggest critics of the CBO back in July of 2009? If you said Pelosi, Dodd and Obama, you win.
President Obama is now singing the praises of the CBO
All of a sudden Democrats are singing the praises of the Congressional Budget Office.
But quick, who were the three biggest critics of the CBO back in July of 2009? If you said Pelosi, Dodd and Obama, you win.
It seems that back when the CBO was asking if Congress was smoking crack, or words to that effect, Nancy Pelosi and company didn’t think the CBO was so “wonderful” and “precise.”
Back then, the Queen of Congress said, “..it’s always been a source of, yes, I will say frustration, for many of us in Congress that the CBO will always give you the worst case scenario on one initiative and never … any credit for anything that happens if you have early intervention, health care. If you have prevention, if you have wellness … you name any positive investment that we make, that we know reduces cost, brings money to the Treasury in the case of education but never scored positively by the CBO. Yes, it is frustrating.”
Chris Dodd also bitched about how unfair the CBO was saying “One of the things that’s disappointing about CBO — and frustrating — is all the work…done on prevention” that the CBO doesn’t factor in.”
But no one was less in love with the CBO than The Greatest President In History, who said during one of those White-House-Goes-to-a-Townhall episodes “…the CBO, which sort of polices what all various programs cost, they’re not willing to credit us with those savings. They say, ‘That may be nice, that may save a lot of money, but we can’t be certain.’ So we expect that not only are we going to pay for health care reform in a deficit-neutral way, but that’s it also going to achieve big savings across the system — including in the private sector where the Congressional Budget Office never gives us any credit — but if hospitals and doctors are starting to operate in a smarter way, that’s going to help you even if you’re not involved in a government system.”
But now everything is wonderful with the CBO, Congress and, of course, President Obama.
So what changed? Well, it could have been the unprecedented calling of the head of the CBO Douglas Elmendorf to the White House, where he was personally educated by the Greatest Professor In History on numbers, health care and stuff.
As one wit said, think of it as baseball umpires visiting the owner’s box.
Joe Biden, who is apparently still Vice President, came to the aid of Chris Dodd and remarked that Dodd is “getting the living hell beat out of him.”
Joe Biden, who is apparently still Vice President, came to the aid of Chris Dodd and remarked that Dodd is “getting the living hell beat out of him.”
At first we were shocked at the blatant honesty of the statement, and by the amount of sense the hitherto sense-lacking Vice President demonstrated.
Then, of course, he had to ruin the whole thing by saying that the reason Dodd was getting the living bejesus beat out of him was “because he’s being a leader. This is going to be a hell of a race and it’s an uphill race, but Chris Dodd will prevail.”
Perhaps what Joe meant to say was that Chris Dodd was the leader in AIG contributions, even beating out Barrack Obama.
It’s worth noting that at no time during the Vice President’s praise of Dodd’s leadership was there any mention of his leadership in the Wall Street meltdown, the mortgage crisis or the AIG bonus fiasco. Biden did, however, note that Dodd was “the most gifted legislator in Congress, now that Teddy Kennedy’s gone.”
We’re not sure what Teddy Kennedy ever did to Joe Biden to warrant this comparison, but it must have been something really bad.
The democrats want to subpoena all the VIP mortgage records from Countrywide Financial. You know, the guys who gave sweetheart deals to Democrat Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad.
Democrat Senators Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd, the twin poster boys for the Culture of Corruption
Republicans have called the Democrats’ bluff on the culture of corruption. They want to subpoena all the VIP mortgage records from Countrywide Financial. You know, the guys who gave sweetheart deals to Democrat Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad.
The Republicans say they’re willing to take a chance that GOP lawmakers will also be ensnared in the Countrywide mortgage scandal.
Unfortunately, House Democrats are being somewhat less than cooperative. They’ve refused to subpoena records that might reveal if any other members of Congress also got discounted loans and special treatment.
According to congressional rules, only the chairman of a committee can issue a subpoena. New York Democrat Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he’s just too darn busy stimulating the economy to find out which members of Congress are corrupt.
California Republican Darrell Issa, the senior Republican on Towns’ committee, has repeatedly tried to get Towns to subpoena Countrywide’s records. Towns has turned down each request.
A Bank of America spokesman said it will gladly submit all the documents as soon as it receives a subpoena. “They have it packed and ready to go,” Issa noted.
Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that every politician who’s been ensnared in the Countrywide scandal so far has been a Democrat? And do you think, perhaps, both parties already know exactly who will be named in those records?
Appointing Chris Dodd as head of the banking committee and Kent Conrad as chair of the Budget Committee didn’t help the real estate market; now they are in charge of health care?
Senator Kent Conrad indicating how much interest he paid on his Countrywide mortgage
Why did America’s real estate market crater?
Appointing Chris Dodd as head of the banking committee and Kent Conrad as chair of the Budget Committee didn’t help.
According to testimony from an official at Countrywide’s VIP division, while millions of Americans struggled to make their house payments, those two Democrat Senators were getting sweetheart mortgage deals from the soon-to-fail bank. And, while they blamed the Bush administration and tax policies for the cratering real estate market, Dodd and Conrad swore they had no idea they were getting a good deal on their mortgages.
After all, who pays attention to things like interest rates when you’re financing a home purchase? Or payment terms? Or the monthly payment amount?
Now, these are the guys that are in charge of a health care fix (fix being the operable term here).
Wonder what health care will be like for U.S. Senators under a Dodd-Conrad health system? Maybe private hospitals will run specials for VIPs:
Free ACL surgery with every kickback.
Bribe one, get one liver transplant free (The Kennedy special).
The Sub-Prime Fiasco and the Obama Spending Fiasco. Parallel tracks meeting in the distance.
Have you ever noticed the strange parallels between the last year’s sub-prime loan fiasco and this year’s Obama spending fiasco?
In the subprime fiasco, people borrowed money to live far beyond their means. In the Obama spending fiasco, the government’s borrowing money to live far beyond its means.
In the subprime fiasco, everyone in charge knew the borrowers would never be able to repay their debts. In Obama’s spending fiasco, everyone in charge knows the government will never be able to repay its debts.
In the subprime fiasco, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd assured everyone that everything was ok. In Obama’s spending fiasco, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are assuring everyone that everything will be ok.
In the subprime fiasco, anyone who raised an objection was called a racist. In Obama’s deficit spending fiasco, anyone who raises an objection is called a racist.
In the end, there really is only one difference between these two fiascos. This one has a lot more zeroes.
