Dodd hit by his own legislative torpedo

Dodd lied and got caught...dodd is dunn.

Paulo

Please let me be the first to call for his Head!.

The storyline emerging from Wingnut-land and throughout the Repuglican loving corporate media is that Chris Dodd and the Treasury Department secretly inserted a provision into the stimulus bill that allowed AIG to pay its failure bonuses.

There's only one problem with this narrative: it's completely false.

With or without the stimulus bill, AIG would have been allowed to pay its failure bonuses. In fact, at no point in time was there every a law barring the bonuses.

Given that the bonuses were never illegal, there was never any need to create a new loophole to allow them. They were allowed all along.

What actually happened was that the stimulus bill put new restrictions on bonuses, but only applied those restrictions on bonuses that were given out after the legislation passed.

Early drafts of those new restrictions were retroactive, and would have applied to the AIG failure bonuses, but by the time the final legislation was passed, the retroactive provisions had been eliminated. Chris Dodd, who wrote the restrictions, says he agreed to limit their scope at the request of Treasury.

Figuring out why the new restrictions didn't go far enough is a valuable exercise, but it's also important to get the basic story right, and so far, far too many people are getting the simplest of facts wrong.

Before the Repuglicans go wagging their finger in outrage, they ought to at least get their story straight. There was no "secret provision" to allow AIG bonuses.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

Chapter 482 in the game of "Name That Party."

The whole article is about Senator Dodd, but nowhere in the article does it mention what party he belongs to. How can anyone claiming to be a journalist leave that fact out?

That's right, Dodd's caught red-handed, yet the writer avoids all mention of his being a (hush) Democrat.

When you read in a newspaper about a crooked politician, and the article doesn't mention that politician's party, you can assume that politician is a Democrat.

If the Republican loving corporate media had put 10% of the effort into investigating Bush Administration claims of WMD as they are into the bogus claims that Tim Geithner and/or Chris Dodd facilitated the AIG bailout bonuses, what are the chances we would have gone to war in Iraq?

Frank, (from memory) didn't Collins (R) amendment get removed from the Conference report that would've taken care of this entire bonus mess.

If so you need to add it to your article. That way it won't seem your protecting Dodd.

The problem with these breathless "investigations" is that the DC Villager "media" still get it wrong and they use Republican spin rather than carefully ferreting out all the facts prior to airing or writing conclusions which later have to be modified.

The Dodd/Geithner issue is case in point. Dodd screwed up in the first CNN interview -- which made the second one painful. The problem, however, is that CNN hadn't completely fleshed out the story with Geithner. Whether people like it or not, the final re-drafted amendment in the Stimulus package was better than zero regulation on bonuses.

I don't expect the reporting to be any better because the DC Villager "reporters" are fundamentally lazy and more interested in a "scoop" and the specter of "Dem scandal" than actual fully fleshed out analysis.

So is he a liar or a moron? I'm going with liar.

If we're taxing the AIG bonuses and looking at Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae bonuses:

HOW ABOUT THE CONGRESS LOOKING AT THE RAISE THEY GOT DURING JANUARY...EVERYBODY GOT $5000

They did an abysmal job of watching out for the American taxpayer, but still went ahead and accepted the "automatic" raise.

No automatic raises. Have Obama order Pelosi and Reid take out the law that let's all members get automatic raises despite the lousy job they do.

Calling on congressmen and senators to refund the automatic raise given to them in 2009.

They don't deserve it. Put the taxpayers' money back in the Treasury.

Lousy leaders.

And from now on please, split the public into two categories those that pay INCOME TAX and those that pay PAYROLL TAX.

One group shoulders the entire burden of the other group.

The Repuglicans have made themselves look like idiots (again) over this.

The bonuses were only in the bill because the govt was legally and contractually oblicated to do so (thanks BushCo). The Repugs then showed their true corporate loving colors when they were called on to vote to get the bonuses back yesterday and yet half of the Repugs, despite their fake outrage, still voted to allow the AIG robber barons to be able to keep their bonuses.

Chris Dodd stated last year he would explain the mortgage he received from Angelo Mizzolo and CountryWide Financial.

We are still waiting.

Chris Dodd joined with Barney Frank to prevent regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several years back stating "it was not needed"?

Chris Dodd purchased vacation property in Ireland at a price far under the fair value!

Chris Dodd changed the language in the stimulus bill to allow the employees to collect their bonuses.

When you look into the motive Chris Dodd was looking out for himself and campaign contributions and not the taxpayers.

Republican Eric Cantor and about 73 other Repubs just broke Their Pledge to Grover Norquist to never vote for a tax increase by voting yes on the BIGGEST INCREASE IN THE NOMINAL TAXRATE EVER!!
http://media.photobucket.com/image/grover%20norquist/ClarkDemocrat/GroverNorquist-ArchitectofDomesticF.jpg

Chris Dodd joined with Barney Frank to prevent regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several years back stating "it was not needed"?Chris Dodd purchased vacation property in Ireland at a price far under the fair value!

Posted by: Joe Jankovic | March 20, 2009 4:30 PM
..............

Wingnut mouth breather,
Fannie and Freddie were specifically prohibited from the kind of subprime lending that was at the heart of the meltdown. In fact, Fannie and Freddie could only buy mortgages issued to borrowers who made substantial down payments and carefully documented their incomes, which is the exact opposite of a subprime loan. So, could you tell us exactly what 'evidence' you have been 'looking at' that would lead you to say they 'caused' the financial crisis and somehow Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who were minority party Democrats during six of the last eight years of the BushCo reign, helped them do it ?" Ha ha ha !!

Fannie and Freddie didn't cause the crisis. They were victims of the financial crisis. They don't make loans. They only BUY loans from private industry who made all the mistakes that created the current nightmare. And Dodd has already explained himself which is why you clown Repubs are not going to be getting his seat despite your crap propaganda and BS talking points.

It's back to the future time.
Some people here seem to think the Dodd Amendment that saved AIG contracts/bonuses and coerced into the bill by the WH, was done last year under a different Congress, and a different President.

HEADLINE: Happy New Year 2009, Welocme to the new Democrat controlled Congress/House & Senate, also the Executive Branch.

And to Sen. Dodd and the WH for looking after their rich buddies.

Me, I believe the contracts are valid, moral thats different. But hey this is Congress we're talking about. If not lets get the money back from the CEO's of Fannie & Freddie. Reines is that one of their names. Something like that. What's the difference.

There is someone who still believes teh Dodd amendment never existed:
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Dodd Amendment never existed???
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/17/aig.bonuses.congress/
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http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/dodd-cracks-aig---time/
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123741741674677723.html
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Your right, never existed.

PG, Rank James is suppose to provide cover for Chris Dudd, Obama and the Democratic party. He is not a journalist, he is a PR flack for the Democratic party. He wouldn't know honest, fair, objective reporting if it fell on him like a ton of bricks. And he doesn't care about it either. P.S., PG, just a few months ago Rank James said the Chicago Democratic Machine doesn't exist and died 20 years ago with the first Mayor Daley.

Dodd got caught in a bald face lie. His comments on CNN Tuesday v. Wednesday make this obvious to anyone who isn't a partisan hack. Its damage control time for liberals. Protect the messiah and throw Dodd under the bus.

What is Joe Cassano doing these days?

With the $315 million of AIG money he walked away with?

Where's the outrage about that bonus?

Why didn't the plane crash (to use Liddy's implied analogy) when this "pilot" bailed out???

John D, I don't care about James' views and this is why.

As long as people who oppose or challenge his articles and the posts that follow get displayed then that's OK, for me. I try to be honest and open minded challenging radical views.
The people who are completely in the tank for one side or the other and will trash the other side, without acknowledging the facts, just shows their ignorance.
Me,) Congress and the WH created this AIG mess. By passing a bill they didn't read, and "act" as if they can't believe AIG would do this.
So Congress writes, passes a bill, that ALL the members don't know what's in it, because they haven't read it, and we're supposed to believe these arrogant idiots it was AIG's fault. NO, it was Congresses fault and anyone who voted for it.

I will say there are to many who just want to trash one party or individuals over others, but I believe whoever has the Ball is fair game. At the moment it's the Democrat controlled Congress and White House. You have people like Frank, dropping the ball, then running to the side line saying it wasn't my fault. Ever notice how teams/players get benched then their dropped from the team. Hopefully the people will take notice of this Congress and get rid of these types and move on.

Fannie and Freddie weren't victims you stooge, they were volunteers.
Warnings were given as early as 2001 that reform was needed to properly oversee the GSE's for potential problems and these warnings continued throughout the Bush presidency. To paint them as victims is crazy and since I am sure that there are some people that would like to see what part they played in the mess here's a link:
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http://www.stlouisfed.org/news/speeches/2007/01_17_07.html
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