Free Republic

A weekend report from the New York Times that former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd (Conn.) is set to become the new chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America appears to support the movie industry lobbying group's stance that reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. According to the Times, the 30-year Senate veteran is poised to take over the $1.2 million position and the job of coordinating the policy goals of the various member studios. Dodd's hiring comes after reports that several candidates turned down the chance to represent Hollywood on K Street. The job is strongly associated...

As the final days of his long congressional career were falling from the calendar, corrupt Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd was uplifted as one special interest after another heaped praise upon him. They were the beneficiaries of his years of generosity with other people's money and his advocacy of federal mandates that enriched them. And for all those years, they completed the quid pro quos by delivering copious sums and manpower for his re-election campaigns. In another context, prosecutors would call this extortion or racketeering; in this context, however, it's just called government. The news media, new and old, also kissed...

The day before the White House's bipartisan summit on health care reform, there didn't appear to be much mood for compromise on Capitol Hill. Sen. Chris Dodd, a key author of the Senate health care bill, told reporters flatly Wednesday that if Republicans continue to demand that Democrats scrap their health care proposals and start over, "then there's nothing to talk about." "If you expect me to start all over on this, there's really not much point in this, 'cause we're not going to start over," Dodd said. But Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell argued that's exactly what Republicans want.

A walking path along the Naugatuck River. A better public safety communications system in Enfield. More than $28 million to support local homeless assistance programs in Connecticut. Those are just some of the projects for which U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd recently helped win federal funding. And that laundry list of goodies doesn't even include the possibility of $100 million for a new University of Connecticut hospital that was slipped into the health care overhaul bill last weekend. The politically vulnerable Democrat has been criticized for using the promise of federal money to bolster his chances of winning re-election in 2010....

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.'...

The conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint Friday against U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, saying the price Dodd paid for his cottage in Ireland amounted to a gift from a friend and accusing the senator of failing to report it as such on government disclosure forms. "It's relatively straightforward," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. "It looks like he is getting taken care of in Ireland, and he's not reporting the nature of the gifts he is getting as a result of his being taken care of." Dodd's office responded angrily, attacking Judicial Watch's credibility, criticizing...

On Friday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Maggie Rodriguez asked Democratic Senator Chris Dodd about efforts by Congress to pass legislation that would punish credit card companies for charging higher fees and interest rates: "Senator, yesterday President Obama says that he wants legislation to stop credit card abuses. This is something that you have been pushing for, for years. And I don't have to tell you that there's been strong credit card lobby against this. Now that the President's on board, can you assure consumers that this will finally get done and when?...what's the likelihood?" Dodd responded by thanking Rodriguez and...

How Big Finance is trying to keep the Senate banking chairman's imperiled political career afloat. __ As Senator Chris Dodd fights for his political career, the embattled chairman of the powerful Senate banking committee is receiving his own economic rescue package from the finance industry. According to the five-term senator's latest campaign disclosures, filed earlier this week, the financial sector is flooding Dodd's campaign war chest with donations in advance of what is expected to be a tough reelection bout.

DODD writes: In the last week, there's been confusion over my role in limiting excessive compensation and AIG bonuses. With so many conflicting reports about this whole matter, I wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight. [Skip to the nut of it] This past Tuesday, I misunderstood a question in a television interview about whether I inserted a date to protect AIG — and I answered that I most certainly did not. When I saw that my comments had been misconstrued, I felt it important to set the record straight — that this had nothing to do...