The dishonest "Blame Dodd" scheme from Treasury officials -(or Dems eating your own)

salon.com ^ | March 17 2009 | Glenn Greenwald

[blueyon]

There is a major push underway -- engineered by Obama's Treasury officials, enabled by a mindless media, and amplified by the right-wing press -- to blame Chris Dodd for the AIG bonus payments. That would be perfectly fine if it were true. But it's completely false, and the scheme to heap the blame on him for the AIG bonus payments is based on demonstrable falsehoods.

Jane Hamsher has written the definitive post narrating and indisputably documenting what actually took place. The attempt to blame Dodd is based on a patently false claim that was first fed to The New York Times on Saturday by an "administration official" granted anonymity by Times reporters Edmund Andrew and Peter Baker (in violation, as usual, of the NYT anonymity policy, since all the official was doing was disseminating pro-administration spin). The accusation against Dodd is that there is nothing the Obama administration can do about the AIG bonus payments because Dodd inserted a clause into the stimulus bill which exempted executive compensation agreements entered into before February, 2009 from the compensation limits imposed on firms receiving bailout funds. Thus, this accusation asserts, it was Dodd's amendment which explicitly allowed firms like AIG to make bonus payments that were promised before the stimulus bill was enacted.

[IamConservative]

I’ve been a manager for 25 plus years. I can assure you if I approve an expense report that has a reimbursement for hookers on it, the board is not going to ask the employee to explain. Obama’s signature on the legislation makes the implementation of that law his responsibility.

He is displaying rank cowardliness and lying to save face. He has a very exploitable personality. Our enemies are watching.

[Roccus]

At least ya didn’t blast me for misspelling “chortle.” ;)

[submarinerswife]

It looks like Dodd will be just like his Daddy a disgraced US Senator

Never heard that story.

[Recon Dad]

I have no right to cast any stones on that score.

[mbynack]

Both Dodd and Obama received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from AIG last year.

I don't see how it's ethical for Dodd to be the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, whose job it is to regulate the finance industry, to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from those organizations. In any other business this would be considered a kickback and would be illegal.

[eureka!]

Red on Red in DC. Love it...