Redstate

Posted at 10:54pm on Jun. 27, 2008 It's a pity that this didn't make the actual New York Times editorial page...

...but baby steps, I guess.

By Moe Lane

The below is an excerpt from The Board (via Glenn Reynolds), which looks like it's a blog where the NYT's editorial staff can sound off with relative impunity. It's... not too bad, actually. Pretty strongly liberal, but at least this one has decent spelling - and they're willing to say the occasional nice thing about a Republican.

And, shockingly, no Name! That! Party!:

About that Mortgage, Senator . . .
By The Editorial Board

Call it the curse of the Friends of Angelo.

Senators are lining up like lemmings to avoid it. They are suddenly volunteering disclosure of their personal mortgage loan terms to avoid being tainted by the V.I.P. mortgage scandal that has descended on Congress.

[snip]

It turns out that the chieftain of Countrywide — which is smack in the middle of the mortgage mess — extended privileged borrowing status to two Senators, Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota. Both Senators deny any ethical violations.

Read the whole thing: it's a darn sight more independent-minded than the actual newspaper it's ostensibly attached to, not to mention more interesting. And you get the feeling that whoever wrote this post is perhaps not entirely distraught that the housing bill is being held up right now...

Posted in Chris Dodd | Countrywide | Kent Conrad | Miscellanea | new york times — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:03pm on Jun. 24, 2008 How dare John Cornyn demand ethics and disclosure from sitting Senators?

By Jeff Emanuel

Texas Senate Ethics Committee ranking member John Cornyn (R-TX) will introduce an amendment to the controversial mortgage/lender bailout bill that would require Senators to list their residential mortgages as liabilities on their financial disclosure forms.

The amendment, which would take effect next year, would require Senators "to disclose the date the mortgage was acquired, the rough amount, the interest rate, the term and the name and address of the creditor."

According to Roll Call, the proposed amendment, which has reportedly garnered support from at least five other Ethics Committee members, "appears designed to address the fallout from the revelation that Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the housing bill’s sponsor, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) received favorable mortgages from Countrywide Financial."

As reported here before, Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, had suspicious dealings with Countrywide Financial, the mortgage lender Sen. Barack Obama -- for whom Dodd has been a pledged Superdelegate since February -- has been railing against on the campaign trail even while appointing another beneficiary of the organization to help vet his potential Vice Presidential candidates.

Despite his shady dealings and preferential treatment from the lender (or perhaps because of it), Dodd's name is on the landmark mortgage-bailout legislation now pending in the Senate, which will bail out Countrywide, among others, using an obscene amount of taxpayer dollars.

Posted in Chris Dodd | Congress | Countrywide Financial | Culture of Corruption | Ethics | Ethics Reform | John Cornyn — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:25pm on Jun. 20, 2008 Bank of America's Bailout Bill

64 Pages of 'Confidential and Proprietary' Evidence

By Bluey

Tim Carney at the Washington Examiner has another solid piece today on Bank of America’s role in the housing bailout bill. With the Senate set to vote on the legislation next week, conservatives are mounting a last-ditch effort to stop an outrageous abuse of taxpayer money.

The “confidential and proprietary” document Carney uncovered (click here to view) illustrates just how intricately involved Bank of America has been in drafting the legislation with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). Bank of America, of course, is in the process of buying Countrywide Financial Corp., which remains at the center of the mortgage meltdown.

A Senate staffer and a House staffer both told me on background that the House version of the bill — or at least the bailout portion — was drafted by Bank of America. I have also reviewed a March 11, 2008, "Discussion Document" currently circulating among Hill staffers that appears to have been drafted by somebody at Bank of America.

The document's title, "FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention Act of 2008," is now the title of HR 5831, the House version of Dodd-Shelby, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

The paper more or less spells out the mortgage bailout plan contained in the House and Senate versions. The date of the document is one month earlier than the date HR 5831 was introduced. If the document, stamped "confidential and proprietary" is valid, it points to a Bank of America source as the author of the House version of this bill. Calls and e-mails to Dodd, Frank, and Bank of America were not returned.

If this was happening under a Republican Congress just imagine the media scrutiny. We’re barely hearing a peep.

Posted in Barney Frank | Chris Dodd | Congress | Congress | Housing Crisis | Mortgage Bailout — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:44pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Shouldn't the Senate Banking Chair know interest rates?

By Soren Dayton

Where do the Democrats find people like this? The Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee doesn't know the interest rates:

Roll Call thought this was mock worthy:

Briefly Quoted. “I don’t know what the rates are today.”

— Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), surprising reporters on Tuesday with his unfamiliarity with current mortgage rates. Dodd, who was explaining why he planned to keep his scandal-tarred Countrywide Financial home mortgages, is the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

It sounds like Dodd is either a criminal or criminally ignorant of the area he regulates. Will we ever find out which?

Crossposted from The Next Right.

Posted in Chris Dodd | Congress | Crooked Democrats | Housing Hypocrisy | The Housing Crisis — Comments (11) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:47pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Want to buy an overpriced house in Las Vegas? You’re about to!

By Matt Kibbe

Thanks to Matt for stopping by to post this. Matt Kibbe is the President of FreedomWorks. --Erick

The current correction in the housing market is painful for Wall Street and many homeowners. Not missing an opportunity to ‘solve’ a ‘crisis,’ Congress is attempting to save the day with the Dodd-Frank bailout bill that is scheduled to hit the Senate floor later today.

While supporters try to sell the bill as legislation to help folks facing foreclosure, a closer look shows who benefits and who ultimately pays.

Dodd-Frank creates a new $300 billion taxpayer loan guarantee facility that nearly doubles the size of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and allows mortgage lenders and banks to cherry-pick the worst performing and riskiest loans in their portfolios and offload them onto the FHA, creating new loans that shift 100 percent of the liability to the taxpayer.

Read on . . .

Posted in Barney Frank | Chris Dodd | Congress | Countrywide Financial | Dodd-Frank | Mortgage Bailout — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:47am on Jun. 18, 2008 Demand Congress Investigate Senator Chris Dodd

By The Directors

The New York Times reports this morning that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CN) had suspicious dealings with Countrywide Financial, the mortgage lender Senator Dodd is attempting to bailout with taxpayer dollars.

According to Senator Dodd, he knew he was in a "V.I.P. program" at Countrywide Financial, but he denies that this meant he was getting special treatment from Countrywide Financial.

That's like being a member of the United States Senate and thinking you get treated just like everybody else.

Most damning, however, is that Senator Dodd is now trying to bailout Countrywide Financial with billions of taxpayer dollars.

Call your senator at 202-224-3121.

Tell your Senator there must be a full investigation to determine if Senator Dodd is operating in a quid pro quo relationship with Countrywide Financial.

Likewise, the Senate should not consider Senator Dodd's mortgage bailout proposal that benefits Countrywide Financial until we know if Senator Dodd is returning the favor of his very low interest mortgage rate.

Finally, tell your senator that Senator Dodd should step down from chairing the Banking Committee. If he is not smart enough to know being in Countrywide's "V.I.P. Program" gave him special treatment, he is not smart enough to preside over this important committee.

Posted in Chris Dodd | Congress | Connecticut | Countrywide Financial | Mortgage Bailout | Quid pro quo — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:48am on Jun. 16, 2008 Time to Call Mitch McConnell

By Erick

Your must read of the morning is this editorial at the Wall Street Journal.

This week, the Senate takes up the Mortgage Bailout Bill.

We have known Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) received preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial.

We now know that the legislation will mostly benefit mortgage lenders like Countrywide Financial.

We now know that the two Senate leaders pushing this legislation, Chris Dodd (D-CN) and Kent Conrad (D-ND), received preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial, in addition to Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

Kent Conrad, on Friday, issued a statement saying he "never met Angelo Mozilo," the CEO of Countrywide Financial. But, the Wall Street Journal reports Senator Conrad now admits he "called Mr. Mozilo and asked for a loan. The result was a discounted loan on his million-dollar beach house and a separate commercial loan of a type that residential lender Countrywide did not even offer to other customers, regardless of the rate."

Call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 and tell him we should not be bailing out mortgagors as payback for Senators.

Call the Republican Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, at (202) 224-2541 and tell him that in light of apparent Democrat indiscretions with Countrywide, he should not agree to limit debate on the mortgage bailout.

Posted in Chris Dodd | Congress | Corrupt Democrat Watch | Kent Conrad | Mitch McConnell | Mortgage Bailout | Nancy Pelosi — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:48am on Jun. 13, 2008 Hey, Senator Obama! I got a couple more candidates for that party trick you do.

You know? The "___ was not the man I knew" game that everybody loves?

By Moe Lane

Looks like you have a couple more volunteers lined up. Courtesy of Conde Nast, who put something together for the weekend just for you:

Countrywide's Many 'Friends'
by Daniel Golden Jun 12 2008

Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota[*], chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans.

Really, I wouldn't even bring this up if you hadn't so obligingly dumped reluctantly accepted the resignation of James Johnson when it came out that he did the very same thing as two of your very prominent super-delegates. You see, I figure that there has to be a point where even you won't duck and cover whenever another one of your infamous judgment calls goes pear-shaped; two sitting Senators should fit the bill. Even if Chris Dodd is precisely the sort of juiced-in corporate fatcat that you're supposedly against.

Yes, yes, not the Chris Dodd that you knew. It's funny, Senator Obama: all those times that I get told about how Bush was "intellectually incurious" by the very people who are now your most avid supporters, and not once did I twig to the fact that they actually meant it as a compliment.

Go figure.

Moe Lane

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Chris Dodd | Corrupt Democrat Watch | Countrywide Financial | Kent Conrad — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:53am on Jan. 4, 2008 Minor Candidate Roundup

The 10-Ring Circus Is Ending

By Dan McLaughlin

For those of you who missed it elsewhere, just to summarize:

Duncan Hunter is focusing on New Hampshire and Wyoming (which caucuses Saturday) rather than pack it in after drawing 1% of the vote in Iowa, which he was largely ignoring. Presumably, Hunter will end his pointless campaign by next Wednesday and focus on positioning himself to be the next Secretary of Defense, a job for which he is well-qualified, although I'm not really sure who he would be liklely to endorse at this stage.

Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have returned to their day jobs in the Senate. Dodd's campaign never did get the wave of momentum he expected from announcing his candidacy on the Don Imus show.

Hunter, along with Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, will be barred from the next round of debates hosted by ABC. ABC's press release doesn't even mention Alan Keyes. I haven't yet seen evidence that Keyes is even on the ballot in key states. Thus, the next debates will feature Huckabee, McCain, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson and Paul on the GOP side and Obama, Clinton, Edwards and Richardson on the Democrat side.

Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Chris Dodd | Dennis Kucinich | Duncan Hunter | Joe Biden — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:00pm on Nov. 27, 2007 The Iowa Race Is Close

By California Yankee

Political Wire got an advance look at a new Strategic Vision poll in Iowa that shows Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama tied in the Democratic presidential race at 29%, with John Edwards trailing at 23%.

On the Republican side it shows, Mitt Romney barely leading with 26%, followed closely by Mike Huckabee at 24%, Rudy Giuliani at 14%, Fred Thompson at 10% and Sen. John McCain at 7%. [Read on]

Posted at 1:23pm on Nov. 8, 2007 Hey Dodd, Drop out -- Sincerely, Connecticut Voters

By Michelle Oddis

Taken from a Quinnipiac poll released today:

Chris Dodd has never gotten above one percent in the national presidential primary polls. Do you think it is time for him to drop out of the presidential race?

70% say "Yes, Drop out"

Do you think Chris Dodd is spending too much time running for President and not enough time being Senator from Connecticut?

55% say "Yes"

Do you think Chris Dodd would make a good President or not?

56% say "No"
25% say "Yes"

Posted at 11:05am on Oct. 31, 2007 Obama Wins Debate

By California Yankee

Senator Barack Obama outperformed six other Democratic presidential wannabes at last night's debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

An unscientific OpenVote poll found Drexel students selected Obama as the debate winner:

Currently, with over 600 votes cast, Obama has sustained the lead with 46 percent.

I didn't see it quite that way. I thought Hillary took a lot of damage from Dodd, Edwards and Obama. I think Edwards came out on top.

Posted in 2008 | 2009 Presidential Campaign | Barack Obama | Chris Dodd | Drivers License | Eliott Spitzer | First Lady | H — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:12pm on Oct. 29, 2007 Chris Matthews says Hillary is dumber than Bush

By Mark Kilmer

As an aside, and quite by mistake this afternoon, I found myself watching on of the most pointless exercises in the history of Presidential politics: Chris Matthews interviewing Chris Dodd on Hardball. I neither know nor care how he stands all the time, but during this interview, at least, Matthews seemed the friendly Dodd supporter.

As they were nearing the end of their little talk, Matthews designated two columns of candidates based on their repeated Iraq "strategy." Most of the Democrats are Column A, he said, which means they talk about getting out of Iraq but they want to basically continue what President Bush is doing. Column B, people like Dodd, want to get out now.

Posted in 2008 | Chris Dodd | Chris Matthews | Hardball | Hillary Clinton — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Read More »