Free Republic

Election 2010: The back-to-back Senate retirements of Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd may be just the beginning. The people have seen the future of health care reform and found it doesn't work. Apres moi, le deluge. We don't know what the Mayan calendar says about 2010, but it's starting to look like the end of the world for Democratic electoral prospects. Americans who watched in shock as government tried to step between them and their doctors, may have the last laugh. The tea party isn't over until the angry mob votes. As rage grew over the attempt to nationalize one-sixth...

WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd's decision to retire at the end of the year increases the chances of a Senate overhaul of Wall Street regulations that is bipartisan and friendlier to the financial sector than what President Barack Obama may want. Political strategists from both parties and financial sector lobbyists say Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is now free from re-election considerations and fundraising demands to cut a deal with Republicans without fear of alienating liberal voters. "The political motivations associated with Chairman Dodd's re-election are now gone from the regulatory process," said Scott Talbott, senior lobbyist...

Biden: Dodd is 'getting the living hell beat out of him' Posted: December 11th, 2009 05:17 PM ET From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden praised Sen. Chris Dodd Friday, but conceded his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him." The vice president made his comments at a fundraiser for Dodd Friday in Hartford, Connecticut. Dodd had been scheduled to accompany Biden at the fundraiser and at event earlier in the day to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace...

A wide ranging congressional investigation into Countrywide Financial will dig into how the mortgage giant went about picking government officials to offer its VIP program, according to aides involved with the inquiry. Thanks to an agreement between Republicans and Democrats reached late Friday night, any name of a member of Congress involved in the VIP program will head straight to the ethics committee, while redacted copies of those documents will be given to the House Oversight and Government Reform. But the committee has cast a much wider net, looking into whether lobbyists or others in Washington helped identify mid-level Hill...

Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed Friday night on language for a wide-reaching subpoena of Countrywide Financial’s VIP lending program as part of an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the company at all levels of government, committee aides said. The subpoena, which was sent out Friday night, will ask the lender to fork over documents relating to its “Friends of Angelo” program – named for CEO Angelo Mozilo, who allegedly offered favorable mortgage rates to persons of influence.

Susan Crabtree of The Hill has the scoop: "Two junior Democrats are urging their leaders to open an investigation into the Countrywide VIP mortgage program. Rep. Paul Hodes (N.H.), who is in his second House term, and freshman Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.) called on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel to initiate an investigation into Countrywide Financial's 'Friends of Angelo' VIP program and whether it was used to gain influence over federal officials. They made their case for the investigation in a letter to Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), the panel's chairman, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member....

Two Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are joining with panel Republicans in formally calling for Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) to launch an investigation of the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. “The American people deserve to the know the truth about these lending practices, and if they had undue influence on federal housing or financial policy based on awarding ‘VIP’ loans to federal officials,” Reps. Paul Hodes (N.H.) and Mike Quigley (Ill.) wrote in a letter Thursday to Towns and ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Towns and Issa have been feuding for weeks over the California Republican’s demand...

Faced with a promised vote to subpoena documents on Countrywide Financial's "Friends of Angelo" program, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee fled a scheduled 2 p.m. markup today. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the Ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, had promised to call for a vote at today's markup on whether to subpoena documents involved in the program that gave sweetheart mortgages to at least four Democratic government officials, including two senators. According to the Wall Street Journal, the program might have also benefitted the chairman of House Oversight, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. Even if it had been ruled...

House Democrats Lock GOP Out of Committee Room A bitter divide over Countrywide mortgage scandal. By JAMES FREEMAN Democratic staff for the House oversight committee informed their GOP counterparts today that the majority has changed the locks on the committee's hearing room. While Republicans previously enjoyed their own key to the room, they will now have to request access from Democrats. This followed a bitter partisan argument in which Republicans refused to take down a video from their website that contradicted Dem explanations about a closed-door meeting on the Countrywide VIP loan scandal. As we reported last week, the committee...

Dodd Rejects That Healthcare Bill Is Being Written Behind Closed Doors; Strongly Backs Public OptionBy Christopher Keating October 16, 2009 4:28 PM Sen. Christopher J. Dodd strongly rejected criticism that the highly important healthcare bill is being crafted only by Democrats behind closed doors. Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, who is challenging Dodd in the 2010 race, and others have complained that the important aspects of the complicated bill are being written without public input. Dodd played a key role in a Senate health committee that passed an earlier version of the bill, which is now being merged with a...

If you think moderate Democrats are afraid of voting for ObamaCare, you should see how they react to a potential vote on the Countrywide Financial loan scandal. The House oversight committee was scheduled to meet on Thursday afternoon to mark up several minor pieces of legislation. Days before the meeting, California Republican Darrell Issa notified committee Chairman Edolphus Towns that Mr. Issa would call for a vote to subpoena Countrywide documents from Bank of America, which bought the failed subprime lender last year. Recall that, under the "Friends of Angelo" program, named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, Democratic Senators...

If you recall, a few days ago Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the Ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, said that he would bring to a vote a subpoena request for Countrywide documents. It's old news from months ago that the Chairman, Edolphus Towns (D-NY) has said that he would not support it even though his name has been linked to sweetheart deals. So today comes. The hearing is set. Issa is going to bring the matter to a vote. Where are the dems for the scheduled hearing? Watch this video and learn:

Once the final report of the Senate Ethics Committee was released, however, the way was cleared for the House oversight committee to subpoena the records of the Friends of Angelo program to determine the full nature and scope of Countrywide's efforts to manipulate Congress and purchase political favor.

Has it really come to this? Is MSNBC so in the tank for the Democratic Party that it takes far-left documentary filmmaker Michael Moore to bring up malfeasance by a leading Democrat? Moore appeared on MSNBC's Sept. 29 "Hardball" to promote his new film "Capitalism: A Love Story." With exception of "The Ed Show" fill-in host Lawrence O'Donnell noting the Senate Ethics Committee had cleared Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., of wrongdoing and only reprimanded him verbally, over the last couple of months, MSNBC's prime time shows have ignored a deal Dodd got on a mortgage with Countrywide. That is, until...

The revelation that Countrywide Financial recorded phone conversations as part of a specialized "VIP" mortgage loan program has added another twist to a Republican-led inquiry on Capitol Hill. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who has aggressively pursued the now-defunct Countrywide program for much of this year, said Monday that a call-recording system put in place as early as 2003 could contain evidence of wrongdoing by prominent public officials. He requested a raft of new information about the program and the taping system from Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide in July 2008 as it struggled with mounting losses amid the collapse...

The Subprime home mortgage collapse...a Primer. It's ALL about the CRA of 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 - This required banks to offer credit throughout their entire market area for “underserved” populations and small businesses. The CRA gave incentives to help low income borrowers become “home owners”. Liberals call this group “low income borrowers”. Conservatives call them a RISK!The CRA was passed by the Carter administration. In 1995 the Clinton administration authorized subprime loans under the CRA. Democrats added these provisions for the securitization of subprime loans and then ENFORCED the lending to high risk individuals. By 2000,...

GOSH, what a surprise: A committee of their fellow senators has decided that Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad did nothing unethical when they took out loans from Countrywide Financial on the kind of favorable terms not available to mere mortals without their financial or political standing -- or a personal connection to the head of Countrywide. The very Select Committee on Ethics did recognize that the whole deal looked bad, and gave its colleagues a gentle pat on the wrist for creating "the appearance that you were receiving preferential treatment based on your status as a senator." But in the...

As the old Irish toast goes, may your sins be judged by the Senate ethics committee. Actually that's not an Irish toast but it must be the fervent hope of every politician who received a "Friend of Angelo" loan from former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo. Late last week the six Senators on the ethics panel dismissed complaints against Senators Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd with a mere admonishment about the appearance of impropriety. The three Republican and three Democratic Senators say they conducted an exhaustive probe and inspected 18,000 pages of documents. They say they found "no substantial credible...

Gosh, what a surprise: A committee of their fellow senators has decided that Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad did nothing unethical when they took out loans from Countrywide Financial on the kind of favorable terms not available to us mere mortals without their financial or political standing -- or a personal connection to the head of Countrywide. The very Select Committee on Ethics did recognize that the whole deal looked bad, and gave its colleagues a gentle pat on the wrist for creating "the appearance that you were receiving preferential treatment based on your status as a senator." But in...

As the old Irish toast goes, may your sins be judged by the Senate ethics committee. Actually that's not an Irish toast but it must be the fervent hope of every politician who received a "Friend of Angelo" loan from former Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo. Late last week the six Senators on the ethics panel dismissed complaints against Senators Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd with a mere admonishment about the appearance of impropriety. The three Republican and three Democratic Senators say they conducted an exhaustive probe and inspected 18,000 pages of documents. They say they found "no substantial credible...