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| Home Front: Politix |
| The tribulations of being a United States senator |
| 2008-06-24 |
| Rich Lowry, National Review It’s not easy being a U.S. senator. People trick you into taking special favors you didn’t even know existed. Shame on these unscrupulous people! Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, both Democrats, fell victim to the machinations of Countrywide Financial, which gave them breaks on mortgages as part of the “Friends of Angelo” program; the “Angelo” in question is Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Most alleged victims of Countrywide were gulled into taking loans with onerous interest rates and excessive fees. But they don’t know the agony of life as a U.S. senator, when at any moment a powerful, well-heeled interest might take advantage of you with cut-rate loans. Consider the plight of Conrad. . . . Countrywide waived a one-point fee for Conrad on a 2004 loan and financed his purchase of an eight-unit apartment building even though the company usually didn’t finance the purchase of buildings with more than four units. Yes, unbeknownst to him, Conrad had been maneuvered into saving more than $10,000: “I did not think for one moment — and no one ever suggested to me — that I was getting preferential treatment.” Dastardly Countrywide had given it to him anyway. No wonder Democrats have condemned Countrywide so loudly (Sen. Chuck Schumer: “a vulture mentality”; Sen. Barack Obama: “these executives crossed the line”). But Conrad got off easy, considering the misfortune of his colleague Dodd. The Connecticut senator has been saddled with favors that may save him as much as $75,000 on his mortgages. Dodd says he knew he was part of a VIP program, but figured it was nothing unusual — who in the senate is not “very important”? Dodd can be forgiven his lack of curiosity given that he’s very busy as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and can’t be bothered with questions of who might be trying to influence him with which particular favors. To his credit, Dodd holds no grudges. Even though Countrywide so badly served him by shaving points off his loans, he is honchoing a $300 billion mortgage bail-out bill that will benefit Countrywide by allowing it to unload its worst loans onto the federal government. When duty calls, Dodd answers. Bank of America is on the verge of buying Countrywide, and an internal Bank of America “discussion document” from a few months ago happens to coincide with the bailout provisions of Dodd’s bill. According to the Washington Examiner newspaper, Bank of America’s PAC has given Dodd $20,000 since he became chairman of the Banking Committee last year, and Bank of America employees have given him $50,000. This can only be described as a string of very bad luck for Dodd, who — given his selfless gullibility — probably figures everyone is showered with donations from the financial industry. Times are tough out there. Gas prices are high and the housing market has yet to hit bottom. But keep in mind Sens. Conrad and Dodd, and remember it could be much worse: You could be a U.S. senator. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #7 Dems don't have a "culture of corruption", they have an "alternative lifestyle of corruption". Only the most bigoted neo-cons would be against an "alternative lifestyle". |
| Posted by: bruce 2008-06-24 17:13 |
| #6 Save thousands on your mortgage! Ask me how! |
| Posted by: Sen. Christopher Dodd 2008-06-24 16:03 |
| #5 Wonder if the Dhimmis will lose an election same way the Repubs did? If the |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-24 15:59 |
| #4 And one more thing: when Senator Obama bought that house in Chicago, who gave him the mortgage? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-06-24 15:20 |
| #3 Let's see: The Repubs had sex scandals without any sex (Senator Tappy-Toes, Lorneful Foley), and lost an election. The Dhimmis have sex scandals with lots of sex (Spitzer, the Ohio AG). The Repubs had financial scandals connected to Abrahamoff, and lost an election. The Dhimmis have financial scandals connected to Countrywide. Wonder if the Dhimmis will lose an election same way the Repubs did? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-06-24 15:19 |
| #2 'Culture of Corruption' only applies to Conservatives. Didn't you get the memo? The Bank of American Considering how Bank of America has been granting loans to Illegal Aliens for some time now they are probably very much interested in making sure that any housing bailouts include Illegals. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-06-24 14:29 |
| #1 Hey, whatever happened to that "Culture of Corruption" we used to read about all the time? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-06-24 13:42 |