Dodd's ambiguous relationship with truth on loan

Kevin Rennie, Hartford Current:

When cornered, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd maintains an ambiguous relationship with the truth. His clumsy and contradictory explanations of the favorable mortgage deals he received from Countrywide Financial continue to shred his credibility.

Dodd would spew righteous venom over anyone who offered the Senate testimony as convoluted as what Dodd has served us in the past 10 days.

"Outrageous," he thundered in a press release on Friday the 13th. How dare anyone suggest he would derive a personal benefit from his public trust? With that, he skedaddled out of Washington, officially traveling and unavailable in the communications age. One more profile in courage.

That first call from David Golden of Portfolio, a Conde Nast business magazine that broke the story, shifted Dodd's tectonic plates. He had quietly luxuriated in two sweet deals for nearly $800,000 in mortgages. Lately, he had enjoyed tossing some lightning bolts at the mortgage industry as it crumbled. Oh, those greedy capitalists.

And then someone inside the biggest miscreant, Countrywide, Dodd's indulgent lender, leaked the details of Dodd's special deal. What fresh hell is this for the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee? And it's unfurling before us as the Senate moves toward a $300 billion bailout of lenders that includes the No.1 subprime mortgage maker, Countrywide, and more significantly, Bank of America, which is acquiring Countrywide.

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There is much more in this well written piece from the Senator's local paper. Hopefully the New York and Washington media will check out the link and give Mr. Rennie the credit he deserves. Then they should chase down the artful Dodd--ger. He has much to explain, and his credibility is hanging by a thread.