Chris Dodd: Another Profile in Courage

Now I know why I love Washington. You simply can’t make this stuff up, folks! Even if you locked yourself in a remote bunker for months on end, I’d wager the best fiction writer couldn’t map a more twisted storyline than the AIG bonus-gate that’s unfolding before our eyes.

The latest revelation is that the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), has now been outed as the one responsible for including the bonus loophole. Chris Dodd, the former presidential candidate who told the story of returning to his father’s roots in such populist oratory. Well, turns out he lied.

What’s with the U.S. Senate these days? First you have Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) rolling over into a fetal position when someone cried “racism” over the Roland Burris (D-Ill.) appointment, only later to learn they were justified in wanting to pump the brakes a bit on his ascension to their exclusive country club. And now this profile in courage by Dodd.

It’s almost laughable. Almost. But the reason this should be taken seriously is the ease with which the majority party in Congress now finds shades of truth to justify every policy move it makes.

Instead of offering some plausible, well-reasoned argument on the matter, Dodd simply denied he had anything to do with the bonuses. He then tells CNN the very next day that Tim Geithner made him do it. What did the senator from Connecticut mean when he stated, “I agreed reluctantly. I was changing the amendment because others were insistent”?

Oh, that’s rich, Chris. Don’t you dare let the press pin this on you. Uh-uh … not when you’re running for reelection next year and you happened to take tens of thousands from insurance giants like AIG in donations.

See how this smells, folks? And instead of nipping it in the bud when he had the chance (or preventing it altogether, as he implicitly suggested), he hopes Americans aren’t paying attention. And when they do, his best defense is he misunderstood the question?!

Why can’t congressional Democrats follow the behavior of their leader, President Obama, who told an audience in California, “Listen, I’ll take responsibility. I’m the president.” I’m beginning to think that banking policy is just not the forte of the Democratic Party. But judging by the past four weeks, I’m starting to wonder, what is?

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