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Sen. Chris Dodd is overdue for a long talk with his spokesman, Bryan DeAngelis, who wrote: “As the Dodds have said from the beginning, they did not seek or expect any special rates or terms on their loans and they never received any; they were never offered special or sweetheart deals and if anyone had made such an offer, they would have severed that relationship immediately.” That statement is false: Senator Dodd himself has acknowledged that he knew he was given a “VIP” offer from Countrywide, the disgraced mortgage lender where CEO Angelo Mozilo’s “Friends of Angelo” program traded sweetheart...

Whoa. It's looking like Sen. Chris Dodd's involvement with a sub prime-lending company warrants far more than a mere Senate Ethics Committee look-see. Or so suggests closed-door committee testimony from a fomer executive of the firm in question. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota both got sweetheart mortgage deals a few years back from Angelo Mozilo, CEO of subprime-mortgage giant Countrywide Financial.

Despite his denials, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd knew from the start he was getting a VIP mortgage break from a major lending group, an official involved in the loan testified secretly to Congress. Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) both got preferred treatment from Countrywide Financial Corp., but have maintained all along they didn't know they were benefiting at the time their mortgage packages were crafted. The two men were part of an elite group known as "friends of Angelo," a reference to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

Caligiuri calls on Dodd to resignPublished on 7/28/2009 SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (AP) _ A Republican opponent wants U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd to resign after a loan official with Countrywide Financial said the Democrat and a colleague knew they were getting VIP mortgages with the lender. Senators Dodd and Kent Conrad have denied the allegation. Robert Feinberg worked in Countrywide's VIP section. According to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press, he told Republican investigators for a House oversight committee last month that both senators were told they were getting preferential treatment. Both men were said to be considered "friends" of Angelo...

With each day Senator Chris Dodd's hold on the Senate seat he has held for almost 30 years grows more tenuous. As the Chair of the Senate Banking committee he deserves a share of of the blame for the economic mess we are in now, on top of that, are the recent scandals in which he has been involved. Ten months ago it was disclosed that the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Received TWO VIP Loans from Sub-Prime Lender Countrywide Inc. The Loans were at favorable interest rates. Senator Dodd claimed he didn't know he was receiving a "sweetheart"...

Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment. Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home...

It's the first day of the week, so we have some weekend carry-overs on today's digg list. http://diggsandburies.blogspot.com/

WASHINGTON – Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment. Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony. Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing the toughest re-election fight of his nearly 30 years in the Senate, Sen. Christopher Dodd boasts about snubbing lobbyists. Yet even as he touts his independence, the embattled Connecticut Democrat is still cashing lobbyist campaign checks and rubbing shoulders with them at fundraisers and party gatherings. Dodd, perhaps the most vulnerable Senate Democrat in 2010, has driven home his message in fundraising pitches and campaign videos. [snip] Dodd's popularity has tumbled in the wake of the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid. He provoked a home-state backlash after temporarily moving his family to Iowa...

Despite multiple television commercials by his campaign and third-party advertisers, U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is still behind Republican Rob Simmons in the latest Quinnipiac University poll by nine points, 48%-39%. The poll shows Dodd defeating state Senator Sam Caligiuri of Waterbury by 42 percent to 40 percent, and Dodd is tied with Greenwich multi-millionaire Tom Foley at 42 percent. In the battle for name recognition, Dodd is far ahead. Some of the Republican challengers, however, are barely known at all. Even though Dodd has been in public life for 35 years, 7 percent of the adults polled said they...

From the tone of the flurry of news releases, you'd think he cured cancer, built a perpetual-motion machine in his basement and brought peace to the Middle East. No, what Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., claimed to have accomplished Wednesday was far more grand. He and 12 fellow Democrats outvoted 10 hapless Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee and started America down the road to universal health care. Before the celebrations begin in earnest, we must note Sen. Dodd's bill calls for a paltry $600 billion in new spending, compared with $1.5 trillion proposed by the House....

I arrived at Dodd's office at 1030 and was greeted by two Police officers who recognized me as the man who stood up to the 30 hippies that protested the recruiters office last year. They thanked me and comiserated with me concerning the case ofour nation and our recent health care scare Two more Tea Party Patriots showed up and stood with me, Gary and his wife. Gary took the video while I, in my new persona, stood by as SHREK, or something similar to Gren and all!

<p>Today, July 23rd, at 12noon pro-gov't run healthcare advocates are having a rally at Dodd's office in Hartford. This was mentioned on Fox 61 this morning, so they are pumping it up and likely will be there. WE NEED TO GET THERE AND COUNTER RALLY and let them, and the press, know that we are here, we care, and we will not be ignored.</p>

After 30 years in Washington, the Senator from the financial industry discovers his populist side. Read » The most vulnerable Democrat running for re-election in 2010, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), wants you to know: just because he took gobs of cash from the financial industry over the years doesn't mean he's a shill. In fact, he's a champion of the little guy and a champion of regulation. At least, that's how his staff and image consultants want him to be perceived. The Washington Post caught up with the embattled Senator to get a handle on Chris Dodd 2.0 Dodd denies...

The latest congressional campaign reports are in and Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd's re-election campaign manager, Jay Howser, says his boy's numbers represent "a substantial investment by Connecticut residents." It's just the latest claim from the Dodd camp that withers under the light of truth. In the second quarter, Sen. Dodd reported raking in $1.2 million, about $100,000 less than his Republican challengers. Of the total, almost 40 percent came from political-action committees controlled by vested interests with business before his Banking Committee; health insurance and pharmaceutical companies looking to influence the shape of KennedyDoddCare; and his Democratic congressional colleagues. Sen....

Interesting...check out the man who wants to challenge Chis Dodd.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is doing just about everything it can to take down Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who has emerged as its best incumbent target of the 2010 election cycle. But its vice chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), isn't helping the cause on that front. In an interview that aired on National Public Radio on Thursday morning, Hatch praised Dodd as "one of the better senators here." Hatch was being interviewed alongside Dodd on Democratic efforts on health care, and despite their differences, a love fest ensued. "Now, I want to compliment Chris, because when Sen. (Ted)...

So, are you tired of the permanent campaign yet? Here in Connecticut, it's all Chris Dodd, all the time, as he runs one ad after another and scurrying around the state in his struggle to rebuild his shattered image ahead of his 2010 day of reckoning. But the 2012 presidential campaign, which one anticipates Sen. Dodd will sit out in favor of fellow Democrat Barack Obama, is also well under way. At least six likely Republican presidential challengers have visited Iowa, site of the caucuses that presumably will mark the formal opening of the 2012 proceedings. Others have been on...

After all his lying about his sweetheart mortgages, his Irish cottage, the AIG bonuses and his wife's appointments to corporate boards, would you buy a used car from Sen. Christopher Dodd? Then why would you buy his health-insurance coverage? Sen. Dodd has proposed a government-run health-care program that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would taxpayers cost a mere $61 billion a year over the next decade. Sen. Dodd said KennedyDoddCare would "dramatically reduce the number of uninsured — fully 97 percent of Americans will have coverage, a major achievement." A major achievement, all right — in duplicity. This is a...

Raising Money To Unseat DoddThree GOP Hopefuls Filling War Chests In Preparation For 2010 Election By CHRISTOPHER KEATING The Hartford Courant July 8, 2009 Greenwich millionaire Tom Foley has raised more than $530,000 in the first 26 days of his U.S. Senate bid to unseat Democrat Chris Dodd. Another Republican hopeful, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, says he has raised more money than Foley, but the exact total is not due until the official filings July 15. A third, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, has raised about $125,000, but he says that his total is artificially low because he was distracted...

Health Reform: A Senate health care bill will force Americans to buy health insurance whether they want it or not. Where the extra doctors to treat them will come from is anybody's guess...Debby Smith, the uninsured cancer patient hugged by President Obama, is also a Democratic operative. She is a member of Organizing For America, a group that is a project of the Democratic National Committee, and Smith was invited to the event by the White House itself...Acknowledging that many are uninsured because they choose to be, a Senate version of medical reform imposes fines of $1,000 for uninsured people...

Health Reform: A Senate health care bill will force Americans to buy health insurance whether they want it or not. Where the extra doctors to treat them will come from is anybody's guess.When even the venerable Helen Thomas gets upset at an Obama show and tell, you know the sales job for health care reform and other goodies is not going well. "I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency," said Thomas, a view we share. Thomas accused the White House of "controlling the press" and said just about all Obama events are "prepackaged." White House press...

JULY 3, 2009 New Evidence on the Foreclosure Crisis Zero money down, not subprime loans, led to the mortgage meltdown. Article STAN LIEBOWITZ. What is really behind the mushrooming rate of mortgage foreclosures since 2007? The evidence from a huge national database containing millions of individual loans strongly suggests that the single most important factor is whether the homeowner has negative equity in a house -- that is, the balance of the mortgage is greater than the value of the house. This means that most government policies being discussed to remedy woes in the housing market are misdirected. Many policy...

With each day Senator Chris Dodd's hold on the Senate seat he has held for almost 30 years grows more tenuous. As the Chair of the Senate Banking committee he deserves a share of of the blame for the economic mess we are in now, and on top of that there are the recent scandals in which he has been involved. Nine moths ago it was disclosed that the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Received TWO VIP Loans from Sub-Prime Lender Countrywide Inc. The Loans were at favorable interest rates. Then in February we learned of a new "funky"...

LISTS IRISH HIDEAWAY'S WORTH AS MERE $638G Sen Dodd (D-Conn) may have low-balled value of Ireland vacation property. Dodd's financial disclosures claim $638,000 for his 3-bedroom cottage on 10 acres with breathtaking views of the Atlantic......Dodd's next-door neighbor was selling for $1.2M. "Dodd continues to mislead about the property's value," charged DC-based ethics watchdog, Judicial Watch. Dodd purchased 1/3 interest for $160,000 with William Kessinger, Kansas, who was a business partner of disgraced Bear Stearns principal Edward Downe Jr, Dodd's longtime friend. Downe pleaded guilty to insider trading and securities fraud in 1993 but was pardoned, at Dodd's urging, by...

With Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) facing an uphill battle to win reelection next year after a series of Washington scandals battered his popularity back home, President Obama and other national Democrats are sparing no effort to help him. Despite the scandals which left his ethics called into question, the three-decade Senate veteran is not trying to shake his Beltway image. Instead, Dodd is working furiously to show the impact of his long service by racking up big legislative accomplishments - including, potentially, a health care reform bill - before the midterm elections. And some of the national Democratic Party's biggest...

....the dubious Democrat from the Nutmeg State said it is "offensive" the media would suggest that his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, has potential conflicts of interest because she sits on the boards of four pharmaceutical firms. Democrat Dodd is the point man for upcoming health-care legislation....with Sen. Ted Kennedy ailing. That's the same Chris Dodd who "just happened" to get Countrywide sweetheart mortgage loans --- the subject of a Senate Ethics Committee probe. Dodd says an ethics lawyer gave a clean bill of health on his wife's potential conflicts of interest......that raising these questions is "offensive" because husbands of female...

Sen. Chris Dodd, the dubious Democrat from the Nutmeg State, told a recent interviewer that it was "offensive" that the media would suggest that his wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, has potential conflicts of interest because she sits on the boards of four pharmaceutical firms. With Sen. Ted Kennedy ailing, Dodd is the Democratic point man for upcoming health-care legislation. Of course, this is the 21st century. Spouses of powerful pols have their own -- often quite successful -- careers. Of course, everybody knows that Mrs. Dodd received no special consideration because of her powerful spouse -- because Sen. Dodd says...

Irish property prices have plummeted since 2002. But a "cottage" in County Galway owned by Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd has tripled in value during the same period, according to a financial disclosure form filed by the Senator this month. There are two possible explanations for this remarkable turn of fortune. Maybe Mr. Dodd is luckier than a leprechaun. Or could it be that he paid well below the market price...

One of the great dangers in dealing with a crisis is making major, long-term decisions based on the immediate circumstances unique to the problem you're trying to fix. In the case of the current financial crisis the conventional wisdom is that it is the result of poor oversight and loose regulation, so the Obama administration's answer is to layer on more regulations and greatly expand the role of the Federal Reserve. But the cure may be worse than the disease. It's not often I agree with Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, but he hit the nail on the head when he...

Sen. Christopher Dodd vowed to forge on with consideration of health-care legislation in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, despite the slow progress on the hundreds of amendments to the bill already introduced. Dodd, D-Ct., on Thursday acknowledged that the multitude of amendments - most offered by Republicans - has produced a drawn-out process. "Certainly, stalling it is not helping it at this point," Dodd said. "My job is to be fair and to keep the process moving forward." In the next two days, Dodd said he plans to fill in controversial provisions of the bill that currently...

Big week in Washington, what with final action on the tobacco regulation bill, under the leadership of Sen. Christopher Dodd. Congress has really been on a roll. Remember how they passed that consumer credit card bill under the leadership of Sen. Christopher Dodd and the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act sponsored by Sen. Christopher Dodd? There is, of course, still so much to do. We're hoping for a strong health care bill like the one co-written by Ted Kennedy and Sen. Christopher Dodd. And the Obama plan to create a new agency to protect consumers of financial products. It...

Health Care: The CBO says a government-run health care system would cause 23 million Americans to lose private coverage, cost $1 trillion dollars and still leave 30 million uninsured.The Congressional Budget Office, not your typical right-wing think tank, has looked at the Affordable Health Choices Act, as unveiled by Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy, and found the word "affordable" to be false advertising. We have looked at it and found the word "choices" to be as meaningless as being told you can buy any car you want — as long as it's a Ford. The CBO director says on his...

Ethics: Sen. Dick Durbin cashes out of the market and invests with a key Democratic contributor after a Treasury briefing warning of collapse. Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Dodd's Irish cottage appraises at triple the value he's disclosed.Those investors who rode the stock market down to the bitter end and saw their 401(k) accounts evaporate in the morning sun could have used the information Senate Majority Whip Durbin had at his fingertips on Sept. 19, 2008, when he sold $42,696 worth of mutual fund shares. By the end of September, Durbin had sold investments totaling $116,000.

Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate’s only accountant, today criticized wasteful spending in a health care reform bill released by HELP Committee Democrats this week. “The Kennedy-Dodd bill will pave sidewalks, build jungle gyms, and open grocery stores, but it won’t bring down health care costs or make quality coverage more affordable,” Enzi said. “In a time of record debt and deficits, how can Democrats justify the wasteful spending in this bill? “We need to root out the waste, fraud and abuse that is...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is likely next year to face the first real election battle of his 30-year Senate career, lashed out against media reports suggesting that his wife's lucrative positions on the boards of four health-care companies could be inappropriate. "It's offensive to my wife that you'd be even talking about it," Dodd complained on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday. Dodd, who is a key player in President Obama's health-care reform efforts, said there is "no reason" for his wife to step down and claimed she is a victim of sexism. "We don't hear these questions being raised about...

Officials voice no support for health benefits tax Obama is pressing for an overhaul that includes a government option WASHINGTON - Lawmakers and administration officials on Sunday distanced themselves from the idea of taxing health benefits to help pay President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and bickered over whether government insurance would strengthen the market. The debate over a government insurance plan has broken mainly along party lines. But Democrats and Republicans appearing on Sunday's TV news programs either rejected or offered no support for raising revenues on some people through a tax on health benefits. Obama has not supported...

The Talk Shows Sunday, June 14th, 2009 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa; Thomas Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Vice President Joe Biden.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.THIS WEEK (ABC): Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sebelius; Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Susan Collins, R-Maine; Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) seems to at tract friends who, in turn, attract scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thursday, the SEC hit subprime-mortgage giant Countrywide Financial's ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo with a fraud suit for allegedly deceiving investors on the true condition of the company. He was also charged with insider trading. In 2003, Dodd's role on the Banking Committee got him dubbed a "Friend of Angelo" by Countrywide -- and thus eligible for two sweetheart $800,000 loans. The Senate Ethics Committee is -- at a glacial pace -- investigating the circumstances behind Dodd's Countrywide-refinanced mortgages....

In 2007, not long after he announced he was taking a year off from the Senate to run for president and move to Iowa, Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd won the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters. "I am honored that America's firefighters have put their trust in my leadership," he said. In March 2008, after his campaign had gone up in flames, the union still stood by their man and made him an honorary member. At the ceremony, you could hear Sen. Dodd's buttons pop: "For three decades, I've been proud to tell firefighters, 'I've got your back.'...

Angelo Mozilo, former boss of Countrywide Financial, has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007. --snip-- Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud. --snip -- The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo. "The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he...

Room S-211 is not on the Capitol tour. It is a small, ornate chamber, with the look and feel of the late Grant administration. There are two tables, covered in white cloth, one for Republicans, one for Democrats. The room has been the scene of much Senate history, high and low. It was here that Lyndon Johnson twisted arms for civil rights (the room is named after LBJ) and here that Bobby Baker, the secretary of the Senate in the early 1960s, informed President Kennedy that he had received the best oral sex ever from a call girl named Ellen...

We are bombarded daily by Obamaites claiming that this problem or that problem was inherited by them, as they try to blame Bush for all their miscues, and whenever it is pointed out that the housing and credit crash was mainly the result of THEIR policies, they howl and point fingers. Yes there was greed and fraud and insufficient regulation involved in this calamity that has affected all of us, but the main blame for the existence of sub-prime mortgages falls squarely in the laps of liberal Democrats, as this video makes clear:

In another controversial bill, the Senate Democrats voted early Friday morning to remove Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's power to appoint a U.S. Senator in case of a vacancy. Instead, there would be a special election if one of the two U.S. Senators - currently Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman - stepped down from office before the six-year term ended. The Senate voted, 21 to 12, on strict party lines with three members absent at about 2:10 a.m. Friday on the underlying amendment regarding the vacancy. The bill would apply to whomever is in the gubernatorial chair. But...

A Quinnipiac poll shows embattled Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) would be ousted if elections took place today. Repub Cong Rob Simmons wins over 30-year Dodd 45-39....two months ago Dodd lagged 50-34%. That poll was conducted soon after Dodd wrote legislation that let AIG pay millions in executive bonuses while receiving tax dollars to stay afloat.

How in hell did we get where we are right now? Lots of people are asking themselves that question as the greatest nation in the history of the world teeters on the precipice. The precipice of what? The precipice of a nightmare of collectivism and government control of our lives. I thought it might be useful to look at how Obama and the hate-America left are accomplishing what they really want more than anything- the comeuppance of America.

Examples abound of how poorly government run businesses perform, but none compares to the disaster promulgated by Fannie Mae under Franklin Raines. Was Raines qualified to head Fannie Mae? He seemed to have the right college degrees but as we are finding out, those degrees are about as valuable as the prize in a cracker-jack box. Raines greatest qualifications were his Democrat party affiliation and intimate relationship with Barney Frank. What qualified Raines to keep his job were Fannie Mae campaign contributions to House and Senate Democrats, dishonest bookkeeping practices that showed a profit and an inept investigation of his...

Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) has a primary challenger, a former donor. I was ready to dismiss the challenger, Merrick Alpert, as a no-name, but he has a fairly impressive résumé — Air Force officer who served in Bosnia, advance work for Vice President Gore, started a medical software company. ...

Papa Possum'sNew World Nursery Rhymes Political Poetry for Traitorous Times Come The Next Cold MorningSenator who? Oh right, him. Once every six years or so     right in the mid of fall people queue in freezing lines     to heed their civic call. Folks here in Connecticut     again see something odd, a name there on the ballot,     long-lost Senator Dodd...