On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., acknowledged that his staff agreed to dilute the executive pay provision that would have applied retroactively to recipients of federal aid

Dodd needs to resign or commit suicide! Then the rest of Congress should follow suit!

And this is just one example of how our congressmen work. Nice job Dobbs! Time to clean house of these jerks who represent big business and not the American people. What a pile of hog crap. First he lies then he comes clean....or has he really. Once a liar always a liar. Who can trust him now? I think his representative state should impeach him. Not bad for the AIG exec's though. Their $100,000+ investment payed out $450,000,000 for them.......not bad for them, just us suckers.

"what a circus" exactly NP...My thoughts as well, Dodd, Pelosi and the rest are all thieves and flip floppers. I am not saying just Democrats here, the whole lot of them should be run out of town the next election IMHO. Rep and Dem have held this country hostage long enough.

Nice try Dodd, but the truth is only partly acknowledged by you. In fact, AIG was a major contributor to your campaign. Now, let the full truth be known and stop skating around the issue(s).

Your in trouble Congressman!

Now if you beleive that, I've got a bridge in NY I can sell you

We will never change Washington until the people get rid of some of the old seanate and house members, they know the general public can"t touch them in their safe states because you can only vote your man out. It"s time we the people take control of our government again, we have to get a movement started that tells these liers that the pork thrown at us is not going to keep your life time job of srewing the country.The first place to start is with your local media when they start giveing the standing politician credit for pork let every one know how its destroying our country, then demand the media reports all the facts not just their veiws simple letters to the editor will help.

total incompetence on the part of the dems. What would anyone expect

Senator Dodd represents everything that is bad about Washington. He has always placed his personal political ambitions above the interests of the public. The voters of Connecticut should have removed him from office years ago, but they didn't, so now it's time for Senator Dodd to do the right thing and remove himself from the US Senate--or at least commit suicide. His father was no good either. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Seppuku or suicide would the honorable thing to do for Dodd but then honor does escape most politicians as we all know. His second best choice would be to flush himself down a toilet full of his own crap.

All members of Congress including Obama who took money from AIG should give all of the money back to the taxpayers and not to a charity. How can they hold judgement on the exec's who got contract money when they took money themselves. Obama should lead by example. McCain also.

It would be nice if we could believe Dodd and these other politicians, BUT they all play the game the same way.

They lie, cheat and steal from the American people, while all the time thinking that we are either in a coma or they are invisible.

We need to break this way of doing so-called business and replace all of them, even the recently elected Senators and Representatives, many of whom served in state political positions and carry a lot of baggage with them.

Take Democrat Gary Peters from Michigan for example. He spent a lot of time in State politics on the public dole and became the Senate majority leader. His claim to fame was to refuse to call a vote, and thereby allowed a 38% pay increase the legislators approved for themselves. Per capita, Michigan has more legislators than any other state in the nation and they are the third highest paid.........while overseeing the highest unemployment rate of any state. The Governor is one of the highest paid in the nation.

And Michigan wonders why the nations Taxpayers are against bailing out the auto industry.

We need to clean house not only at the federal level, but also at the state, county, township and city level too. Otherwise, the tainted spawn will continue to seek higher positions while bringing no change. Seems to me people voted for CHANGE.

I guess the US should switch their anger from AIG to Congress.

This man is dangerous...and he needs to go as soon as possible. Too bad the Democrats can't see how this man tarnished their party with lies and deceit. I don't understand why he is being allowed to pass blame onto the administration after he removed the administrations policy from the stimulus bill. He is a major mouseole that is playing an enormous role in the suffering of the American people.

Im ready for war American344175...ready to kick ur kind out of my country for good

...and Obama is out on a PR trip to bolster his approval rating. Meanwhile back in Washington his back door pressure on his buddies in Congress is the reason these guys got their $1 million bonuses...

Funny I'm not seeing any "Change" - oh wait, there has been a change in the amount of spending and poor controls on that spending...

These guys put the "BONE" in "BONE-US"---Wow...and these are the same guys that are going to send folks jail for lying about who may have injected who in the ass with steroids or HGH--how ironic.

Let me see if I have this straight.....So someone who took over a $100,000 in campaign contributions is responsible for excluding the corporate BONE-US language on an 11,000+ page stimulus bill based on no knowledge of a specific example's of BONE-US from the source that gave him the $100,000 in campaign contributions? I'm sorry but this just pegged my BS meter.

And the Treasury indicates they "made mention" of the possibility of litigation if this BONE-US provision hadn't been excluded but they knew of no specific examples nor did they recommend excluding the provision--the simply made mention." Again, out of an 11,000 page bill they want us to believe they just made a casual passing comment with no implications for changing this. Wow--the BS meter just pegged again.

Wow...I'm glad they were so concerned about some hypothetical situation that some corporation might want to sue the government over, and forgetting about how their actions screwed the folks that put their asses in office.

UN-B-Fricken believable

Why bother to lie, Dodd! You didn't pass any regulations BEFORE giving out the bailout money - now it's too late. Same old, same old - government acting too late and blaming everyone else

Next they'll have another closed door session and screw us for 3.75T for a budget plus more taxes on something to pay for it plus socialized healthcare when they've failed miserably with what healthcare they already control - the military's. All anyone has to do is look at the disaster their control caused with Walter Reed Hospital and now this program they have to fix the soldiers by harrassing them about their injuries. It's just plain disgusting. But let's let them control our healthcare too into an early grave.

How can you tell if a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.

So what if AIG gets sued over the executive compensation - I doubt a jury or judge in the country would see fit to uphold these scoundrels rights to additional bonus $.

Chris Dodd is a disgrace the same as his father, the late Sen. Tom Dodd. The only good thing is CT voters can get rid of him soon. His ethics leave way too much to be desired. Should not he have at very least abstained from the voting on AIG bonus $ after accepting money from them!!

The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Dodd's father Senator Thomas Dodd was censured by the congress in the late 60's for his use of campaign funds.

Countrywide, AIG, and who knows how much more dirt lies under this politician's rug?

He learned his craft well!

PassthePork......I feel your pain about the lame government officials representing Michigan. Granholm, Levin, Stabenow, Kilpatrick, Conyers & Dingell are an embarrasment! I have no idea why people keep voting these clowns in office. Obviously they are either waiting for their handouts or just do not care. This state definitely needs to clean house. What a shame for this beautiful state. I personally am glad to be leaving soon...heading to Texas. Good Luck to you!

yup. Barnum & Bailey extraordinaire. Comes with clowns, buffoons, idiots, scoundrals, thieves, shysters, conmen, called the United States Government.

Here are the main points to me.

1. The money was given to organizations that did not do well with.

2. The money was given with no strings attached.

3. Now the recipients are not doing what the administration wants so the administratioin wants to change the rules retroactively.

4. Would you accept that from your bank?

Here are the main points to me.

1. The money was given to organizations that did not do well with.

2. The money was given with no strings attached.

3. Now the recipients are not doing what the administration wants so the administratioin wants to change the rules retroactively.

4. Would you accept that from your bank?

Ok, they got their "bonuses", that sucks. Shame on us. Now Congress wants to make an even bigger mistake and pass (unconstitutional, IMHO) a retroactive law to tax at 90% what they got? NO. It sets a very bad code for the next set of laws to follow. You can't change a law after something has been done. You can change it for the future, but not the past. Who come up with $250,000 anyway. Will everybody be taxed at 90% all income above that next year, or will they change their minds and tax us for that in 2006 when the economy was still good? It can't be done. The Supreme Court would (I hope) knock it down.

KMoser, I could be wrong, and believe the approach of good communications is the best method, but at what point do you get tired of being played?

"Dodd said he doesn't know the names of the Treasury staffers who sought modifications to the provision. " If Dodd did not know the names of the staffers then why did he do what they asked..or was this a buy off ? Would not be surprised a bit. Remember folks..he will be coming up for relection..time for him to go. Along with the rest of the old folks in washington that have been there forever.

That is what criminals do.....lie, lie, lie.  I hope Dodd, Frank, Pelosi and Reid along

with the rest of the unethical representatives are kicked out of office.

Dodd:

I don't know anything about it.

er, Someone else must have put it in after I looked at it.

er, Someone in Obama's Administration must have put it in.

er, Someone on my staff did it without telling me.

er, I agreed to it reluctantly.

er, I didn't know anything about the "bonuses".

er, I'll give back the contributions I got from AIG.

er, why's everybody asking me all these silly questions.

er, let's talk about Limbaugh, or Steele, or something else.

er, hey, who do you like in the NCAA Basketball finals.

er, I'm sure all of this was an innocent mistake.

er, I'll find someone in my office to throw under the bus.

LOL

And what about the "bonuses" paid to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac executives for sending us into this financial meltdown with their ridiculous lending standards encouraged by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd?

I understand one of them was Barney Frank's gay "boyfriend".

Post made in another forum which made a lot of sense. it would make a lot more sense than sitting around venting our anger, pointing fingers and placing blame.

545 vs 300,000,000 (Republicans & Democrats Alike - No One Is Blameless)

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST
HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR
CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.
Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and

then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are

against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and

high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on

appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme

Court justices , 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly,

legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems

that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem

was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its

Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally

chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.

They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a

senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The

politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the

lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine

how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that

what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con

regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive

amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a

Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating

deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force

the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole

responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and

approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of

the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the President,

can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can

pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .. If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ. If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way. There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you,
though you have several choices:

1. You can send this to everyone in your address book and hope "they"

do something about it.

2. You can agree to "vote against" everyone that is currently in

office, knowing that the process will take several years.

3. You can decide to "run for office" yourself and agree to do the job

properly.

4. Lastly, you can sit back and do nothing or re-elect the current

Or you can #2 and #3 and then do #1 with request that the recipients also do the same thing.

ur1bella,

Thank you for your comments and congrats and best of luck on your upcoming move to Texas.

My employer relocated me here in 2000 from Illinois. With luck I will be able to return there this year or next to expand a new business we have formed.

Yes, Michigan is beautiful and I love the outdoors, however; the state will never be the same economically. With all the foolishness going on with the politicians I can't wait to get back to Chicago, where everything is so tame and uneventful :)

Talk about spin two Republican house members were jsut on FOX pointing fingers at Guess who. Paulson. In retrospect they are correct. After all President Bush and Paulson insisted he get complete control of the money and they got it. On the Tarp bill they treied to insert language into that bill but the whitehouse would have none of it. So paulson set the terms for getting the money in the first place and since he was responsible for the setup he should be held accountable for this failure.

Now this grandstanding going on in congress about taxing money that is already paid is silly. It is also silly for people to be upset over these amounts which total 1 tenth of 1 percsnt of the total amount AIG has borrowed. If the government owns 80% of AIG with no say in what they do what does that say.

But on Wednesday, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., acknowledged that his staff agreed to dilute the executive pay provision that would have applied retroactively to recipients of federal aid. He said on MSNBC's "Hardball" that it was done at the request of administration officials

Yes everyone should be raging mad at Dodd and Congress, but it looks to me like this goes straight to Obama. If he didn't outright order this to be done, he certainly knew about it long before he claims. OBAMA IS A LIAR!! His presidency is washed-up already, not even 60 days into it, and he's exposed for the Corrupt Chicago Machine Politician he is.I'll admit the choices weren't that good last November, but I saw this coming 10 miles away. I was ready to give him a chance and barely gave any credence to the "Obama isn't a US citizen" group, looking to nullify the November election. Now I say look under every stinking pebble for anything to justify his removal from office ASAP! Unleash the dogs!!

It sounds like the same old song and dance routine to me. No surprises here.

How long as the voters who ELECTED these officials let this go on? If I were from Dodd's, Pelosi's, Frank's, etc District, I would be incredibly embarassed and mad as hell about their criminal actions. Can't these people be recalled????????????????

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!

Pass the Pork,

What possible relationship between legislative salaries by state and federal stimulus funding can exist. Perhaps those states who have been paying in taxes for the last fifty years like Michigan who have always paid in more than they take out should get some of their investment in our nation returned. Those auto workers you would like to put out of work have been paying the taxes for their non union counterparts in Ala., Miss., Ark., Kentucky, Louisiana and S. Car along with virtually all of the current and former Red States excepting Texas have been on Federal welfare for generations averaging a return of approximately $1.30 for every $1.00 paid in taxes. It is easier to have low state taxes and cheap labor if about 20 states almost all blue foot the bills for the rest. The worst pork by far over the last 50 years have gone to those who complain the most about it. McConnell, Selby,Grahm, Demint and assorted whiny governors have been sucking dollars from Michigan forever let their money go to help.

JKHayes

And these are the clowns that have not only been running this country, but who are now trying to fundamentally rearrange how this country is run in the future....sticking their greedy, lying noses into energy, health care, education, and just about any other place possible.

Charlie Rangel...the tax cheat...steps out and says he wants to tax the AIG bonuses at 90% and that the state income taxes will take back the rest. WHY DON'T YOU PAY YOUR OWN TAXES, CHARLIE !!! How this guy is in office and how he ever got elected is a miracle of modern political science. New York....PLEASE....grow a brain and get this guy out of office.

And there goes Mr. Obama....heading west to go on the Jay Leno show to get a few chuckles from an adoring California audience, then hold a couple of his lame town hall meetings to get some good press coverage of his fawning followers nodding their heads in agreement with each lame idea this Politician in Chief has to offer.

It's beginning to sound like the Nuremburg trials with the way they are explaining thier actions. Dodd, Geithner, Barney-Poo and the rest....nobody did anything wrong, nobody knew anything about anybody else doing anything wrong, every spoken word has been taken out of context, and anything that did go wrong...well, it just has to be someone else's fault, but nobody knows who that person might be.

Life was so much simpler just a short decade ago, as long as one could truly understand what the meaning of the word "is" is.

Yup - supposedly, AIG told the Fed about the bonuses 3 mos. ago, but the Fed failed to relay that to the Administration and Dodd says he put the bonus restrictions in, but the Administration "had problems with the language", so it got taken out and nobody apparently told him, and AIG says it HAD to pay the bonuses, contractually, even tho' the recipients of the bonuses were in the very branches of the business which failed, and, meanwhile, over at Merrill-Lynch and BoA, nobody knew about all those eve of bankruptcy bonuses and/or they knew but couldn't do anything about it, besides which, they needed the bonuses to retain good people even tho' the payments went to people who had already left, and...

And MY A*S! When everyone in a circle points a finger at the guy next to him, the finger pointing ultimately comes full circle. Time for genuine accountability and that means that heads need to start rolling, and not in a figurative sense either. Break out the guillotines and the tumbrils and let's clean up this mess

"Dodd said he doesn't know the names of the Treasury staffers who sought modifications to the provision."

WHAT?

He's lying...you can tell by looking....he is, afterall, awake.

Steve....It's like watching some goofy sitcom about government....only it's all frighteningly real.

Did anyone read the article, the provision was taken out by Todd due to pressure from the White House. Why so much anger towards Dodd, shouldnt we put the blame on where the request came from. Dont shield Obama and his staff from this public flogging.

What possible relationship between legislative salaries by state and federal stimulus funding can exist.

JKHayes,

You drew the parallel between legislative salaries and stimulus funding.

I'm saying Peters is as bad as Dodd and brings about no change. As for the use of the federal stimulus it seems that some of it will used to pay these inflated salaries and benefits of the politicians who will continue to mismanage everything they touch, much like our federal "leaders."

The problems confronting Michigan today must be dealt with today in ways that correct today's problems. If for 50 years Michigan has been paying more than receiving, why wasn't this dealt with before? It seems the politicians were too eager to jump on the bandwagon to enrich themselves, rather than trying to create parity for taxpayers.

As for unions versus non-unions, that's also one of the problems. The non-union states had nothing to do with creating the huge legacy costs that are crippling industry in the unionized states today.

I do agree with you that the redistribution of wealth from some states to others, or some people to others, hasn't been fair, but isn't that one of the platforms Obama ran on with his intention to take from the rich and give to the poor? Maybe it's Michigan's turn to be on the receiving end.

You know -- I am so tired of hearing how it is Dodds fault & Obama and DEMS only.

The bailout and handouts started last year when Bush was in charge. Remember McCain having to suspend his campaign because of the economic crisis? Remember how we had to pass this NOW!! or these banks/institutions will fail NOW?

No one (REP or DEM) was given clear information and had absolutely no time to read the pages/pages and pages of financial documents saddled up for the bailout. Maybe that was the plan. IMO I think it was. If you can smother them in bull@!$%#, then, maybe the bill gets signed and no one notices till its too late. GUESS WHAT??? ITS TOO LATE.

I think Geithner needs to resign. He was in charge of this mess from the beginning and it is his and Paulson's underhanded dealings and lack of contingency plans that have created this BONUS mess.

However, those that insist it is only the DEMs fault are delusional. I remember those same people saying that DEMs voted for the war too so therefore it wasnt just BUSH that misled us it was the DEMs too. So--time to pay the ferryman -- EVERYONE in congress and government is to blame for not doing due diligence to make sure this did not happen.

Now that it did -- we must go forward from here (same words used to negate any argument about IRAQ)

Tax the bonuses received at 100%. Find a law that allows criminal charges for the 12 or 13 people that took retention bonuses after leaving the company. And investigate why this contract that was dated Mar/08, had so many clauses that allowed bonuses to stay when overall money was lost. That is what I am concerned with now. What exactly did these geniuses know back in Mar/08 that made the clauses possible???

So--keeping pointing fingers all--three more are pointing back at ya!!! And what does that do -- just proves that government is government, whether REP or DEM.

PassthePork

Good luck on your move back to Chicago. Hopefully everything works out and you are able to return to your hometown soon. Although your city has had its share of attention lately, Chicago is still an awesome city. Not every state has been hit as hard as Michigan. Unfortunately our politicians do not see how they are responsible for the present state of Michigan. Ihope that someday this state will be able return to the great state it once was. I am going to keep an eye on Kwame Kilpatrick while I am in Dallas. Seems the fine residents of Dallas are not happy with the Kilpatricks either. Again...Good Luck to you and yours!

Congress is either for us or against us and it looks like they have chosento be against us! They are looking like a bunch of school children pointing fingers and trying to lay blame elsewhere! Most of know who's to blame and it's Congress! Vote the scoundrels out!!!

Finally! I am reading some comments here that do not have the bi partisan appearence. I totally agree he should be boiled in oil, but in reality, he has done nothing that most of them do not do all the time. There lies the problem. Unless we insist on moral integrity, it will never change.

Just curious... Not just you, but so any of us that love to chime in here ad show all the anger ever bother contacting their representitives? I bet 99.9% never have. I do all the time and am seeing positive change in attitudes when calling their offices. I encourage other to do so.

1. Be polite

2. Be direct

3. It is o.k. to disagree, but be sure to explain your problem with issue and get their reaction.

4. You can change their mind.

Good post KMoser....you are absolutely correct. If people posting here would call or send emails to their representatives it would maybe persuade different thinking. The "people" need to be open in getting their words out there. It is just as easy to send a message to them as to send one to post here. We all know that they are not reading these posts! Time to get out there and vote too. There are too many people who sit back an complain, but don't even take the time to vote for their senators and congressman.

you forgot

5. give a campaign contribution

We have the best Congress money can buy

It is way way way past time for term limits.

The professional politicians have turned into little tyrants with their own intrests at heart rather than the good of the country.

KMoser,

You wrote, "There lies the problem."

Key word is lies.

We need accountability and reform fast.

Why is it that whenever something goes wrong Congress (both Senate and House) hold hearings to find out what happened and the pompous elected officials are always "surprised" at what happened? "I didn't know about the bonuses." "I was surprised that the company spent the money on trips." "I don't know where the money went." "I didn't know blah blah blah."

Can someone please tell me what these useless pieces of excrement we elect do know? I thought it was THEIR JOB to know what was happening to OUR money that THEY are spending.

Please support term limits cuz we all know that we keep re-electing these idiots cuz "our guy" is ok. BS, it is time to throw the baby out with the bath water cuz the baby is dead.

Institute a new law: Crimes Against the People of The United States of America. Minimum sentence: Death Maximum sentence: Death.

right on phamtom

Alll useless prattle. Let the fail write you congressman term limits vote conservative vote them all out etc. You people are being hosed big time. The people that did this are sitting in their mansions counting threir gotten gains a laughing at you because you are directing all your rant at the wrong people. Get a friggin clue.

phantom is dead right. But, I have $1,000 bucks that says the morons in Connecticutt will re-elect Senator Chris Dudd!

thats a sucker bet lol

If you don't like your elected officials stop whining and vote them out. Since 1980 the GOP has been convincing the American public that the Federal government is incompetent and corrupt. It has become a self fullfilling prophecy. In fact it could not be further from the truthmost members of Congress are dedicated, honest and hardworking and do not deserve the calmuny heaped upon them. Prior to 1980 Congress led us through four major wars and the growth of the US from a bit player on the world stage to the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. The job they do is extrordinarily complex and taxing and obviously mostly thankless. It is time for us to stop complaining and insist on good governance. The GOP is hoping for a depression so they can return to power and will do anything possible to deter any successes by the current Administration while the dems hope to isolate the Repubs as extremist obstructionists. Term limits are stupid we lose more than we gain, you have the right to limit terms by voting them out.

JKHayes

Spider...You're probably be right on that bet....and I live in Connecticut. All this ( quite Democrat ) state has done for the past couple of years is throw darts, mud, and stones at Joe Lieberman...because he is not a total syncophant to the Democrat Party and go along with everything they do or say, in total lock step. When he did not speak in favor of electing Mr. Obama to office, many here wanted to find a way to throw him out of office.

In comparison to Chris Dodd...Mr. Lieberman should be held up as a shining example of what a politician 'for the people' should be.

Spider....and yes....we do have a preponderance of "morons" here in Connecticut.

Connecticut must be really proud of their special loser!

now you see it and now you don't

same as I didn't do it and now I did it.....

We have been trying to dump this P.O.S. for years, BUT, big money likes big money.... go figure :( He's a perfect First Class Scumbag!!

Connecticut is far from being proud of Senator Dodd. Lately, you can't turn on the news without another allegation about Dodd and his crooked, cowardly actions. First it was the Countrywide loans and the "Friends of Angelo VIP Program". Then it was his ridiculous run at the Presidential Nomination, and moving his family to Iowa while he did it...(While the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac brew haha was escalating) Then Dodd came out and said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were essentially sound! Right before they collapsed...Then there is Dodds purchase of his little Irish Cottage with Kessinger, which came under scrutiny...You see, Dodd got a Pardon for a guy named Downe, from Slick Willie, by circumventing the normal Pardon Process, and then Dodd mysteriously was allowed to "Buy Out" Kessingers interest in the Irish Cottage, in a name your own price situation, which includes 43 acres of land, and is located on a private Island in a very exclusive part of the Irish Coast. Dodd came up with the "buyout price" after negotiating with his wife to come up with an amount that wouldn't create scrutiny... Dodd still claims this "Cottage" is only worth $250,000.00 while one bedroom condos in the same area are going for over $750,000.00... Everyday, Dodd squeaks around like a Farm House Mouse, and claims it's all about something other than what it is. He is pompous, arrogant, dishonest, and lacks even the smallest amount of Talent when it comes to trying to deflect the truth from his dealings. Giving back the AIG Campaign Contributions? Well, it's not the firt time Dodd has tried to give back contributions... More than once this year, questionable contributions have come under scrutiny...Like the money he's recieved from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae!!! Dodd, Connecticut isn't proud of you, and your time has come, to be removed from office and sent to the Prison Cell you so deserve... For anyone interested, there is a movement in Ct called the "Dump Dodd Movement". Google it, and see what is going on...I think the fine people of Ct have had enough of Senor Dodd and his shenanigans!!!

I'm still in bisbelief that Dodd is still kicking around in our state. He's one of those ol time politicians who thinks he's beyond reproach. He's rude, crude ,crass and ugly. He has forgotten who put him there and why. It's time to go Chris ! As a matter of fact it's been time for some time now.

The A....hole lied flat out. First he said that "that language was not in the bill when I left it". Then when approached the following day he say's he forgot, or was pressured ????

Caught ! People if this guy ends up back in office then shame on us !!

I encourage everyone to write their legislators suggesting that they resign immediately and save this country from more disgrace !

For anyone interested, there is a movement in Ct called the "Dump Dodd Movement". Google it, and see what is going on...I think the fine people of Ct have had enough of Senor Dodd and his shenanigans!!!

Glad to hear that!

his alligance to AIG might have something to do with the $103,000 donation he recd last year from them

Hey CT, you all work on getting rid of Dodd, and we in CA will work on dumping Pelosi. Deal?

Term limits for Congress, 2012.

I hope everyone asks themselves, did I use my vote last election to change the congress or did I vote for the incumbent, self-serving politician who has become entrenched in office. How is it that congress had a 12% approval rating yet 96% were reelected? The "my congressman is ok, it's all the others that are the problem" syndrome was, as always, in play. These politicians need to loose there job! They are responsible for the state of this country. The American people have gotten the Government that they deserve. Next election, vote against all incumbents, or look in the mirror to see the real problem.

It is good to hear from CT voters who feel the same way a lot of us do about Dodd! You are the ones who will make a difference when the election comes around. We need term limits!!!! How the heck do "we the people" get that ball rolling? The jerks in office are the ones keeping things the same, and they sure as heck don't want term limits. With a hope and a prayer, they will be voted out next election if the people will wake up and take back our country.

DD50: We in Illinois will trash out Burris (thats a no brainer), and will be happy to campaign for funds which we will send to you guys to get the Queen off the throne. Seriously, she has become such a threat to this country, that I feel certain that 8 out of 10 Americans would send a $1 each for her removal effort. While we are at it, lets up the amount to $1.50 each and get rid of loud mouth witch Barbara Boxer at the same time.

Note that Dodd did not say he would give back any or all AIG campaign contributions, just any campaign contributions funded through recent bailout money. Can you say LOOPHOLE? Even if he got contributions today, he could claim that they did not come from bailout money. I was going to suggest what Dodd should really be doing for a living, but I don't want to offend used car and snake oil salesmen.

CT may rightly not sound proud of Dodd, but he doesn't stand for re-election for over a year, and that's a lifetime in politics.  If the public hasn't learned but one thing about incumbents it's that voters prefer the devil they know to the devil they don't.  Add to that the fact that Dodd is a high ranking senator with significant seniority who brings home the bacon and it will likely still be difficult to beat him next fall.

Maybe he'll do the voters of CT and all Americans a favor and not run for re-election.  Yeah, right, him and all other Congressional incumbents.

maybe while the house is writing the bill to impose this 90% tax on bonuses they can include campaign contributions and bogus 17% pay increases for congress.Every state needs to have term limits on their ballots next year .

pgcl

Well said!

Americans are not understanding the problem. The bonuses are not the problem, they are a symptom. I believe the problem is that we have politicians that think only about how am I going to get reelected. They have become used to the power and majesty of Washington, good tables at dinner, good parties and the ability to take junkets to parts of the world that most only read about.

I don't think that all of them are bad, just that most are working to keep their job, and that does nothing for the people of this country.

Looks like Pelosi is busy representing her constituants. Only problem, most of them aren't even American citizens. New law: If born of illegal aliens, then you are also an illegal alien. Now, we don't separate poooooooooor families. We send them all home.

Unfortunately for Congress, most people have very limited say in who holds those seats. Good luck getting rid of Pelosi, her district is in San Fran. Unfortunately people like me in So Cal have no say in her getting re-elected.

Chad.....I'd bet Dodd gets re-elected in our state. Do you know that saying nearly all politicians use: " Never underestimate the intelligence of the America voter " ???

I do.

Bubba......So I take it that the good Senator Dodd cannot count on your support duing his next campaign.

Gigi, the social welfare program pails compared to corporate welfare.

Corporate welfare and corporate tax dodgers are killing our economy.

I am a commissioned sales person. When I make my company money, I get a percentage. The harder I work and the better I serve my clients, the more I make. That is Free Market Capitalism - NOT Corportate Welfare.

When there are billions floating around, easy to skim off enough for political payoffs and covering up. Only problem is it is our money that is floating around. Anybody see anything wrong with this picture. Wake Up America.

What exactly is wrong with the people of Connecticut that they keep voting this crook and Liar back in office?? Could it be that a lot of Wall Street people live in Connecticut?? Crooks voting for Crooks that explains it!

What exactly is wrong with the people of Connecticut that they keep voting this crook and Liar back in office?? Could it be that a lot of Wall Street people live in Connecticut?? Crooks voting for Crooks that explains it!

Funny you should say that. The answer is YES. A lot of people who work in NY live in CT.

Exactly right....this is squarely on the Congress. They didn't know what was in the bill when they signed it? THAT'S their excuse? Oh my goodness...do they even know how incompetent that sounds? The only person with the courage to say it was a screw up and to take the blame is the President. He's right..there's plenty of blame to go around but it would be nice to hear some of these cowardly turds of both parties in Congress do the same instead of pointing fingers at everyone else and trying to weasel out of any responsibility. Their overriding concern is the next election they are looking to win. It's disgraceful.

I've been saying the same thing for months; these problems sit squarely on Congress shoulders.

They are lame and ALL need to resign immediately and make no more decisions, without the public's input.

Dodd, Pelosi and Reid need to go. Yes, I am a democrat and I agree. Kick their collective arses out of congress.

LSB,

really nice message. And the republicans that are currently in congress are all saints, right? What a jerk.

LSB--your vile and rediculous remarks lead me to believe that you very well could be the leader of the TIN HAT SOCIETY. You offer nothing but hateful and actually scary remarks.

So - you believe all that disagree with you should die??? What a charming person you are -- NOT!!!

El Whapo: You are only partially correct. ALL politicians are liars, regardless of party affiliation

And the disgraceful way Liddy was treated yesterday should be a total shame on Congress. To accuse him of the problems at AIG, when has only been there 6 months and being paid $1 is misguided. But, hey, when you've made bad decisions and you are looking for a scapegoat, even the innocent will be blamed.

Dcindfw.....When you find out who's "held accountable" in Washington, please let us know.

"Change We Can Believe In".....indeed. "Yes We Can". And my favorite: "WE ARE THE PEOPLE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR".

Wish "we" had waited a bit longer.

Hillary, You are so right. I am afraid that the Voter will have a short memory and vote the same bums back in office again. This seems to happen year after year. This whole mess has been building since Clinton. Republicans and Democrats, both have contributed to the mess we are in and adding to the national debt that our granchildren will be paying for.

Hillary you are right, we put the democrats in durning the last election because of the republicans run away budget spending and now look at their spending, our new president wants a trillion or more and the senate and house is going to give it to him, and the media is allowing him to blame it on Bush, Bush is gone it"s now your war, your budget, and your congress its time to change and live up to your promise of real change.

it's not your money until the government says it's your money

LSB,

No problem. You first. By the way, the doctor said your meds are ready.

Ok. So, now you've blown-off your steam. I presume that's where it gets left rather than affecting real, rational, and considered change.

They are contractual agreements and need to be upheld. The minute that Congress can go in and reneg on contracts, we are in a Socialist state.

Seems to me that this is only a carefully contrived smokescreen. $165 million is peanuts compared to the $350 billion that is unaccounted for in the stimulus package. If they can get the public in a frenzy about this, perhaps we won't notice the other.

very true Melelopaki, I believe it is unconstitutional to try to take the bonuses back or even tax them for that matter,and the worst part is ,who ever votes against any bill taxing said bonuses or attempting to take back these bonuses,will look like they are supporting big business when in fact they are defending the constitution.People are having a hard time seeing past the bonuses when the real crime is that our government handed out $170,000,000,000.00 to AIG to cover 100% of their losses on very bad investments which means the real crooks aren't going to pay 90% tax on any of the money we,as taxpayers, have been duped out of. AIG should have been forced into receivership and sold off then these bonuses would not have been an issue.

I keep waiting for someone here to say that it's George Bush's fault that AIG execs are still getting their bonuses.

Someone, please...don't let me down.

All of Congress should be thrown out.

There should be a law that prohibits Congress from receiving any pay when they do not balance the budjet for that year.

They should work for a dollar a year until they straighten this mess out.

Bob, I like that idea! Make them live under the same rules that they want to impose on business.

rz- yea, I find it amazing that they campaigned on Repub corruption and libs always railed on about Bush and Cheyney helping their friends, etc. Well, Dems are doing the same and actually, it seems worse because THEIR friends are destroying our financial markets. And, they just have different friends to help. Did everyone see that the Census got a ton of money in the budget/stimulus? Did everyone see who has been hired/retained to hire people to do the Census? ACORN. Humm, guess that explains why the White House wanted to take over oversight of the Census. Depending on what the Census says, districts could be redrawn which in turn could affect Dems' power. So what better way to stack things: get ACORN to conduct it (how accurate is it going to be?) and Rahm E. to oversee it and use good ole Chicago politics to ensure the results are what Obama and libs want.

This confirms Obama is not the leader the liberal voter says he is, And his own party members ie Dodd, Pelosi and Reid knows he not

Dcindfw I totally disagree. It only confirms how much of a weasel Dodd is (see below)...and it raises the same age old questions about the integrity of politicians in general.

Over the years, Dodd has been the top recipient of campaign contributions from AIG employees.

Obama can still come out on top of this mess by dishing out some bipartisan backhand slaps across the face of Congress. He's definitely inexperienced and the savvy on Capital Hill are quickly taking advantage of him. I say this is a good thing, because Obama is a smart guy. Better for him to learn he has no friends Dem or Rep within the first 100 days so that he can factor that into future decisions. I've got a lot of faith in our President (but not blind faith); this is clearly a case where he will respond appropriately and learn to reign Congress in. This is a costly lesson, but necessary.

Roy - 24.1 - Obama is already trying to find a way to save face when he gets voted out in 2012. He said yesterday at his campaign stop in LA that he would rather get all done in 4 years he wants to do and only have one term than do nothing over 8. In other words, "I am going to cram through the liberal agenda I and the other libs want and will leave THAT mess for the next president." Hopefully we will elect a Congress in 2010 that will keep him in check for the two years after that and reverse the damage he does, and we will STILL boot out Obama in 2012. I want him to go out in 2012 without having accomplished a tenth of the liberal agenda he wants to push on this country.

Obama is already trying to find a way to save face when he gets voted out in 2012. He said yesterday at his campaign stop in LA that he would rather get all done in 4 years he wants to do and only have one term than do nothing over 8.

BLD - 24.2, I don't call that "saving face" at all. I think he realizes just as every President does at some point just how powerful the political machine in Washington is and that the only way to stay in office for 8 years is to play partisan politics and basically be a party figurehead trying to keep the base happy. I think that statement is consistent with everything i've seen from him so far. So, yeah he knows he's going to piss a lot of people off...he's just not going to wait until day 1 of year number 5 to do it the way Bush did, becoming the new textbook definition of "lameduck president". I think that statement is more of a sign of things to come - that he's going to be going head on with Dems as well as Republicans in the near future.

Why become President without a vision? When you are voted in as POTUS, you are given the opportunity to lead and pursue that vision (consistent with the Constitution, etc of course).

BLD - You are right about Obama. I consider him to be the Jimmy Carter of this decade. 4 years and out. The only way he stays in office, is to curb the Senate and the Congress and then maybe the Good People of our country might vote him back in.

I figured either candidate would be a Jimmy Carter, because the economic mess was SO huge - and we didn't even realize the total scope of the problem last Fall, other that it was obviously a disaster, the bailouts and all. How could it be fixed in 4 years? Not very likely.

If the Repubs can come up with a moderate candidate, one that does not pander to the right wing nuts with "nanny state" moral righteousness/civil rights, that is actually a fiscal conservative rather that another "borrow and spend" nightmare - they might have a chance. But I've yet to see any promising ones. Obama is doing as well as any could, IMO, because once the bailouts began, free money was just pouring out of the spigot - and where did the first $350 billion go? Off-shore is my guess. We taxpayers are not going to be over this for a very long time, and the huge debt hurts our economy also.

Roy, yes you can follow a vision. The problem with this president is that no one really knew what his "real" vision was. He hid his true self so well and only presented the smooth, charming public speaker. Once he got in office, then his socialist, social engineering agenda came out in full force. He only had 53% of the overall support from this country. Many of those were states who normally went Repub. Do you think if some of those states knew what he really stood for that he would have gotten their support? I don't. I agree with the poster who said he is like Jimmy Carter. We had Jimmy Carter; this generation will have Obama to talk about in the future.

I think one of the best comparisons is to the fable about the emperor with no clothes. The press loved him and cheered him on because finally a black candidate (which that brings up a whole other issue - why is he considered a "black" candidate when he is half white; why isn't he "white"?) that wasn't Al or Jesse. No one was willing to really investigate or bring up negative things that existed about him if they looked; maybe they chose to ignore. No one was willing to really ask hard questions of him. Even after the SNL skit during the primary, the press still gave him a pass during the general. No one was willing to say how "naked" of substance this guy really was. Now, finally, something is happening to wake them up, and the public is finally willing to admit that their emperor has no clothes.

i agree and wrote this myself

Bobby - #29 - Almost forgot about that! Isn't it funny how he only released his mortgage docs (and I don't believe all of them) after a lot of pressure, and would only allow limited access on a one-time basis and no pictures, etc., were allowed to be taken. Yet he is part of a group who is demanding AIG release EVERYTHING about the execs who took the bonuses. Can we all spell hypocrite?