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While pork is the “Other White Meat,” Sen. Dodd is Connecticut’s “other” Senator, the opposite of Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Now, Dodd has had some problems. And his poll numbers are neck and neck with Congress’s approval ratings and numbers that our President is working hard to attain. So, what has all of that meant?
It means that while he’s facing a re-election bid in the “bloodbath-to-happen-like-1994” election of 2010, he’s raised a not-amazing figure of around $600,000 for that effort (Our own abysmal failure of a senator, Patty Murray, has banked $5 million, and she doesn’t even have an announced opponent).
Now, it’s not the relatively paltry figure of $600,000 that’s at issue with this post.
The issue?
Of that figure, Dodd has raised, from his own state….
$4,250.
ALL of the rest of it is from 400 out-of-state donors.
ALL of it.
Now, the way I see it, Dodd, most likely, will be replaced by a democrat who can win. Because as time goes on, it will become increasingly clear that he will get his butt kicked by whatever Republican is running against him.
The location of his donors alone is a political issue. How hard would it be to make a “special interest” tag stick?
Dodd’s arrogance and corruption has turned him into GOP road kill. And he will never make it to the general.
Report: Dodd Receives Early Donations From Just 5 State Residents
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd raised $4,250 from five state residents in the first three months of 2009. Close to 400 donors outside Connecticut made up the rest of the donations, according to the Connecticut Post.
FOXNews.com
Friday, April 17, 2009
The fundraising, reported in the Connecticut Post, foretells a tough fight ahead for the power-wielding Democrat in the 2010 race.
Recent poll numbers have shown Dodd’s approval ratings at historic lows, and he’s facing potential GOP and Democratic challengers.
According to the Connecticut Post, the chairman of the Senate banking committee raised $4,250 from five state residents in the first three months of 2009. Close to 400 donors outside Connecticut made up the rest of the donations.
Dodd pulled in another $437,000 from political action committees and other similar groups, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
But the dearth of local contributors is unusual for a long-standing incumbent like Dodd. He recently took heat for including a provision in February’s stimulus bill blamed for allowing executives at bailed-out American International Group to net $165 million in bonuses. Dodd, though, said his hand was guided by the Obama administration — and some AIG employees have agreed to give the money back.
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Let me get this straight:
Congress passes a law they didn’t read that included this: (From the porkulus bill – Generational Indebtedness Act)
TITLE VII–LIMITS ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
SEC. 111. (b) (3)(D)(i) A prohibition on such TARP recipient paying or accruing any bonus, retention award, or incentive compensation during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided under the TARP remains outstanding, [snip]
(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.
No matter that Chris Dodd LIED about his part in this, or that this apparently was done at the behest of the Administration…
What about the Constitution?
Section 9 – Limits on Congress
No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
It seems to me that all this “sturm” and “drang” is based on the concept of confusing the American people with the concept of engaging in MOTION over ACTION.
So, the VERY SAME CONGRESS THAT ENABLED THESE BONUSES IS NOW UPSET THAT THE BONUSES WERE ISSUED?
Are they just hoping that we won’t pay attention to the Federal courts inevitably and rapidly declaring this lynching to be unconstitutional?
I’m not all that big on these bonuses and I know they’re from tax dollars… but the time to address this issue has passed; and the outrage at $165 million dollars in bonuses when Obama has, and will continue to, bury us in trillions of debt seems just a bit misplaced.
This political kabuki theater was NOT the “Hope” and “Change” we were told we should believe in.
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In the alternative universe that is the world of the fringe leftist nutjob, fringe leftist nutjobs in government are inherently incapable of doing any wrong.
Likewise, anything that FOXNews reports on the utter incompetence of any fringe-leftist nutter is automatically wrong, and automatically a smear.
Thus, a total leftist bubble headed whack job puked this series of lies out on Kos yesterday:
Story Updated.
FOX News Smear: Dodd’s Amendment Did Not Allow AIG Bonuses
by boloboffin
Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 10:06:08 AM PDT
Fox Business on the case:
While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” — which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.
Of course, this is going all over the conservative blogosphere.
Yet the actual text of Dodd’s amendment concerning executive compensation doesn’t have this February 11th exception in the text.
boloboffin’s diary :: ::
So the question is right now, where did the exception come from?
It may yet have come from Dodd, but Fox Business did not source its assertion that this language came from Dodd. I’ll keep looking into this.
Update #1: The bill passed the Senate on February 10, 2009. So I’m expecting the February 11 date to have more to do with that passage than any boondoggle for AIG.
Update #2: The amendment as described by Dodd at his website doesn’t include this February 11 language either, but it wouldn’t. Again, the amendment he submitted and that was passed (Amendment 354 to H.R.1 and Amendment 98) didn’t have that language in there.
I do see, however, that Amendment 98 was withdrawn. Perhaps that will tell where the language eventually showed up.
Update #3: The bill passed the Senate on February 10th. It did so as a substitute amendment (570) to the original bill, submitted by Susan Collins. That means that the amendment calls for everything in the actual bill to be struck out and the text of the amendment inserted. It was this bill that passed the Senate on February 10th.
The exception for bonuses before February 11th, 2009 is NOT THERE. Senator Dodd’s section on executive compensation is there.
Update #4: Accordingly, I changed the title to be more definitive.
That means this language was inserted during the reconciliation process. But Senator Dodd did not insert this language up to this point.
Update #5: FWDude below finds the names of the conferees for me. From the House: Obey, Rangel, Waxman, Lewis (CA), and Camp. From the Senate: Inouye; Baucus; Reid; Cochran; Grassley.
Dodd’s name is conspicuously absent. And the text grandfathering in bonuses made before the date of the House-Senate conference (February 11, 2009) is in the conference report. So this is the group that put that in. There is no indication whatsoever that Chris Dodd had anything to do with this clause. Once again, Fox News is pumping out a malicious smear based on shoddy research, and people like Michelle Malkin are pumping it mercilessly.
Consider this right wing lie debunked.
Update #6: A more concise version of this information is cross-posted at the Smirking Chimp.
Update #7: Another diarist points out that it’s not Dodd but a group of top Democrats from the House and the Senate doing this. Not so. There were four Republicans among the conferees — Charles Grassley, Thad Cochran, Jerry Lewis, and Dave Camp. We have no information on who insisted on this language.
I’m happy to let the fault lie where it belongs, but there’s no reason but rank partisanship right now to say it was a Democrat, and an outright lie to say it was Chris Dodd.
Tags: Chris Dodd, AIG, Fox Business, TARP, executive compensation (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions
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Events today, of course, proved this leftist moron completely and utterly…. wrong.
First of all, like most leftists, this moron simply didn’t know what he was talking about.
He saw the source (FOXNews) and his Pavlovian response was “LIE!” and everything that followed after that was designed to completely support his pre-ordained conclusion.
He, typically, overlooked a few things:
First, Sen. Dodd was the number one campaign donation recipient from AIG at over $100,000 for the 2008 cycle. He was followed closely by the empty-suited moron now occupying the White House, then Sen. Obama, who had ALSO received $100,000 plus…. from AIG.
Second, Sen. Dodd’s corruption is well known. One need go no farther then Dodd’s own mortgage to see what a corrupt individual he is.
Third, Dodd’s a democrat.
Of course, Dodd’s initial response was typical of corrupt politicians of all stripes, but especially those tax-dodging scum that the messiah has appointed… or at least tried to appoint. And that is to “deny, deny, deny.”
The problem is that to be a leftist worker bee is to admit to gullibility and political ignorance. For, if one was not possessed of those virtues, one would not be an Obamaton… and one would actually be able to think for one’s self.
Now, the news flew all over today that Dodd finally quit lying and fessed up.
Watch: I’m responsible for bonus loophole, Dodd says
On Tuesday, Dodd denied to CNN that he had anything to do with the adding of that provision.
Filed under: AIG • Chris Dodd • Popular Posts
So, in the face of the now completely overwhelming evidence that these people WILL be able to keep their bonuses as a DIRECT RESULT OF DODD’S AMENDMENT, I went back to this moron’s post to see if HE had acknowledged what a blithering idiot he was.
You know… to admit he was wrong… to say, “you know, I blew the call. I let my complete lack of judgement get in the way, and I made the wrong call. Dodd sold us out, and he needs to pay the price for it,” or some such.
It was far too much to hope for, but then bizarre concepts like “truth,” and “character” and “integrity” really don’t have all that much place on the Kos site, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I will also point out another couple of factoids this idiot left out:
One: Dodd is responsible for MAKING SURE HIS AMENDMENT, the phantom February 11 date, if it existed, was ACTUALLY IN THE BILL.
Two: He couldn’t do that, of course, because the morons running Congress and that disgrace living in the White House WOULDN’T GIVE US TIME TO READ OR ANALYZE THE BILL.
Three: If THIS proverbial turd is floating around in the porkulus punch bowl… what ELSE is in their, waiting to blow up like a Sadr City IED?
Left wing hatred can be a cancer if you allow it to grow. And stupidity by this clown and those in his A-men choir are why fringe-left nutjobs are so dangerous to this country.
Courage and integrity would have enabled this leftist clown to admit he was wrong, and to make it right by updating those who googled over to his “diary” by telling the truth.
But this nutter couldn’t even do THAT, because once it turned out that the lying scum, Dodd, actually WAS guilty and HAD lied yesterday… this waste of skin couldn’t find the time to do… well… Update #8.
It’s difficult to adequately express the irony of this idiot complaining about a FOXNews “smear,” when you consider the garbage he babbled just yesterday.
I guess lying about those who disagree with you is perfectly OK… if you’re a leftist.
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Clark County Politics 