Patterico's Pontifications

3/18/2009

Dodd: Liar. But Why?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:39 pm

Chris Dodd lied when he claimed he had nothing to do with writing the loophole for the AIG bonuses.

But he may have been covering for the Obama Administration.

Instapundit collects the links.

20 Comments

  1. Why isn’t this called AIG-gate yet? Is the -gate suffix only applicable to Republicans?

    Comment by Patrick — 3/18/2009 @ 10:54 pm

  2. I thought the War on Prosperity was a pretty good catch all.

    Comment by daleyrocks — 3/18/2009 @ 11:02 pm

  3. Well, it’s nice to have some confirmation of what activity he was engaged in whilst moving his lips.

    Comment by AD - RtR/OS — 3/18/2009 @ 11:23 pm

  4. I think it’s simply a question of who was bleeding the least.

    Dodd has a myriad of problems confronting him leading up to his next election in 2010. He’s got mortgage problems, sweetheart deals on land in Ireland and elsewhere, huge amounts of campaign funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now he’s the number 1 recipient of AIG money AND his fingerprints are on the bonus legislation.

    Geithner has his problems too, but putting this on Geithner seems a little less dangerous than letting Dodd carry the load. Obama is trying to take the stink off Geithner by saying he’ll take the blame, knowing his popularity gets him a pass.

    But Geithner has 34 votes already against him the Senate because of his tax problems. They are trying to deep six this a little by saying it was Treasury staffers who convinced the Senate staffers to alter the language.

    But I’m not sure either Geithner or Dodd will survive this in the end.

    Comment by WLS Shipwrecked — 3/18/2009 @ 11:53 pm

  5. And the country will be the better for it when they both depart.

    Comment by Carlos Hathcock — 3/19/2009 @ 12:03 am

  6. popcorn with your schadenfreude anyone?

    this is *too* good. i still despise Ear Leader, his minions and all he stands for, but this beats everything on prime time TV all hollow.

    Comment by redc1c4 — 3/19/2009 @ 12:24 am

  7. Dodd: Liar. But Why?

    You have to ask?

    Comment by Dr. K — 3/19/2009 @ 2:49 am

  8. Teleprompter on the wall,
    Who is gwine to take the fall?

    Comment by nk — 3/19/2009 @ 3:45 am

  9. If one was to confront Dodd, he’d assert that he hasn’t lied or misled.

    Comment by cboldt — 3/19/2009 @ 4:51 am

  10. It was my first impression after the hubbub started a couple of days ago that the outrage was planned ahead of time for the purpose of giving the communists a popular and relatively justifiable reason to subvert private contracts. Everything that we are learning subsequently seems to support my first impression.

    There is no doubt that these Democrats are Marxists. The only question is how big of a bite are they willing to take at a time. I think they’ve had it with incrementalism at this point. They have their guy in the White House and they control the other branches of government. They also have the “honeymoon” asset, relatively high approval numbers, and the pretense of “change” that will provide some cover as they go forward.

    Comment by j curtis — 3/19/2009 @ 5:21 am

  11. So we are now given to understand that the congresscritters cannot be expected to actually read any of the spending bills they’ve already voted for, and that their huge staffs are unable to peruse said documents in lieu of their patron’s ignorance. Interesting times.

    Comment by Dmac — 3/19/2009 @ 6:27 am

  12. Put up or shut up

    “Larry O’Donnell went to town this morning on Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA). The ostensible issue was whether Cantor was going to support Rep. Charlie Rangel’s bill to tax the heck out the AIG bonuses when it comes up for a vote later today. He couldn’t get an answer out of Cantor, though to my ears it sounded like a no. But the larger issue this exchange exposes is just how bereft of solutions the Republicans are right now. The only thing they have managed to muster is a faux populism over the AIG bonuses — a passing fancy they hope will score some short-term political points:”

    Comment by Joker — 3/19/2009 @ 7:52 am

  13. The more guys like Dodd, Frank, Geithner, et al are savaged and dstroyed by the MSM, the better.

    These men are directly responsible for the these problems.

    Comment by Jimminy'cricket — 3/19/2009 @ 8:02 am

  14. The ostensible issue was whether Cantor was going to support Rep. Charlie Rangel’s bill to tax the heck out the AIG bonuses when it comes up for a vote later today.

    Comment by Joker — 3/19/2009 @ 7:52 am

    So now they want to subvert the Constitution by passing a bill of attainder? More evidence that the commiecrats planned this “outrage” from the start.

    Comment by j curtis — 3/19/2009 @ 8:55 am

  15. Bills of attainder are legal as long as they are only for the life of the person attainted, PCD. Read the Fourteenth Amendment.

    Comment by nk — 3/19/2009 @ 9:00 am

  16. Sorry. Read the Fourteenth Amendment *too*.

    Comment by nk — 3/19/2009 @ 9:03 am

  17. This “joker” is a joke, right?

    Comment by Deacon JD, C.O.R. — 3/19/2009 @ 9:09 am

  18. The Republicans are mustering faux populism over this? Did you not fucking watch Teh One railing on about this, and vowing to take back the money? Did you not see the Dems vowing to impose a 100% tax on the bonuses?

    Where was the same outrage when Raines and Gorelick were collecting $165,000,000 from FM/FM? Never mind, it was okay for them to cook the books and walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses, because they are Dems.

    Comment by JD — 3/19/2009 @ 9:23 am

  19. 15

    It would clearly be a trial ( other than impeachment ) by legislature. If it could be spun in any other way, then the clause has no meaning.

    As for the Fourteenth Amendment, I don’t see anything there that allows trial by legislature. Having the power to enforce by appropriate legislation, surely woudn’t include unconstitutional trials by legislature.

    Comment by j curtis — 3/19/2009 @ 9:50 am

  20. j curtis,

    I think the closest thing we have ever come to for a bill of attainder is denying felons the right to vote or hold public office. And that’s discretionary. Illinois does not do it, for one example. I pointed to the Fourteenth Amendment as possibly the limit.

    Like I wrote in another thread, taxing something by a law passed after you have acquired it is not a bill of attainder or ex post facto.

    Comment by nk — 3/19/2009 @ 10:16 am

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