When a dyed-in-the-wool old school liberal like Connecticut senator Chris Dodd goes completely over to the dark side on all matters financial, you know the books are cooked and the little guy doesn’t stand a chance. I’m not as down on the Wall Street reforms as Matt Taibbi, but I agree with him about the disgraceful double-crossing Dodd pulled on members of his own party who were only trying to make it so the bill had some real teeth.
Dodd has already announced his retirement, so his opposition to Elizabeth Warren to be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency isn’t political. It’s either personal, or it’s little more than a naked attempt to solicit cushy job offers for his second career on Wall Street. I don’t really care who heads the agency, but I think Warren deserves the position and is well qualified. I also think her nomination would do wonders to pick up the spirits of a lot of disenchanted liberals. I think a fight over her nomination would be very helpful in getting opinion leaders on the left a little more enthusiastic about the midterms.
Among a rotten lot, Sen. Dodd has always been one of the good guys. What a lousy way to end his career…in the hip pocket of the Banksters.
Yeah. Dodd’s father was one of the good guys too, except that he shilled for the dictator we installed after the coup in Guatemala, and converted campaign funds to his personal account, with imputations of much wider corruption. Worse than Good Guy Daschle but not far from lots of other good guy Democrats who couldn’t wait to get to the money pile. When a politician no longer has to worry about an election, his true colors become visible. Dodd’s color is green.
This would be my primary opposition to term limits – it motivates public servants to cast votes with an eye towards their next job. It’s basic human nature: survival.
Good point. I always opposed it from the basis that the lobbyists would always know more because you don’t have time to develop the knowledge, expertise experience to know issues, and it would make officials even more interchangeable than they are already. But that’s another angle I didn’t consider.
Oh, and though I know I am really late, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Hope you and your beloved are loving your lives together.
I second both of ya – term limits are a huge civic problem here in my state of California (but then, what isn’t? 🙂 ).
Can’t add anything else here. What a rotten way to go out, especially after all the positive he’s done. I don’t expect perfection from anyone–I know full well that there are some issues you have to trade on in order to stand up for others. But this is just whorish. Like I told the hubby, Dodd may not have Bush money, but it’s not as if he’s broke.
Last year, I was sad to see him go. Now I can’t wait for him to leave. Damn.
Dodd attained one of the shady Countrywide VIP loans, decided not to run again, watered down Wall Street reform, became public critic of picking Warren and ripped freshman Senators for wanting to change rules that is hampering President’s agena/economic recovery.
I mean, what a disgrace to a man that I considered an ally of liberal causes.
When the last Prez election was beginning, I remember checking out Dodd since he was so popular around some of the leading Liberal blogs. I decided against him almost immediately when I saw his long history of being a Wall Street shill, and how most of his money came directly from various Wall St-based PACs. He’s long been one of the most, if not the most, benefactor of BigBank cash, which far exceeds what he would get from small regular donors.
So this latest stuff is nothing new from Dodd.
I had thought it was something of a shame that CT voters didn’t want to keep Dodd around after his years of honorable service. Thought he was a relatively innocent victim of the financial crisis, as it were. But maybe (probably) those local CT folks have a much better sense of the man than I do, and believe that he should rightly be put out to pasture. This (plus his opposition to any filibuster reform measures) is a sad surprise to me. Wonder what his great friend Teddy would think.