Dodd-Watch: Peter Schiff Needs to Commit for CT's Sake

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Gail Collins wrote a balanced watered-down Op-Ed in the New York Times yesterday about how busy Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd‘s been over the last year, sponsoring basically every bill that comes before the Senate.  Yes, you always want to look busy in the workplace to cover up ineptitude.

Collins works in Dodd’s incredibly embarrassing move to Iowa and glosses over some of his recent Irish real estate foibles, but essentially gives him a pass…even on the AIG connections and the Countrywide relationship (which almost goes unmentioned).

These are all regrettable, but given the fact that after nearly 25 years, he is still one of the poorest members of the Senate, I think we can work under the assumption that he is not in it for the money.

What a pointless waste of time this article was.  Not only does Dodd come off looking like Hardest Working Man in the Senate, Collins seems almost starstruck by the DC lifer:

I first met Dodd long ago, when he was in the House of Representatives. He was very funny, and seemed exceptionally normal for a member of Congress. Then I left Connecticut, and the next time I saw him he had moved to the upper chamber, acquired a mane of gray hair, a deep, senatorial voice and a demeanor so old school that I felt like apologizing for failing to bring along a baby for him to kiss.

“a mane of gray hair”…I think I’ll vomit now.

In a recent The Daily Show interview (above from June 9th), EuroPacific Capital’s Peter Schiff discussed his desire to unseat Dodd in a possible Senate run with John Stewart.  Many of my fellow financial bloggers have credited Chris Dodd as one of the most culpable politicians for our recent credit disaster.  As Schiff was one of the first and most outspoken to see the crisis coming, it would be exceedingly fitting to watch him boot the banking committee chairman out of his seat in an election.

Schiff said that the chance to get rid of Dodd would be one of the best parts of going for a seat in the Senate. He also mentioned that Dodd “has been in the Senate his whole life, he thinks he’s in the House of Lords”.

After years of sweetheart deals, campaign contributions from the businesses he was, to some extent, supposed to be watching and an era of lawlessness and lax enforcement for banks in general under his committee chairmanship, I am amazed that Dodd is still on the scene at all!

The humiliation CT residents should have felt for their state when he moved out to Iowa to win a primary was one thing, but presiding over the banking committee during a massive bank orgy and subsequent meltdown should basically make him unelectable should he stand for another term.

I hope Schiff knocks him out the frame.  I also hope the Times stops printing milquetoast drivel when scathing exposés are in order.  Dodd has taken on numerous projects in a last-minute effort to burnish his record after years spent in benevolent ignorance.  This guy sponsoring a fairness bill against credit card companies to pose as a populist champion is like your neighbor bringing over a housewarming present after accidentally burning down your house the day before.

Sources:

Mr. Dodd’s Best/Worst Year (NYT)

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