"excuse and ignore crony-ism and corruption from members of our team?"

Where is there any proof for such loaded language?

What are the qualifications to become a "VIP" for countrywide?

What are you accusing Dodd of having done for the loan that you call him corrupt?

I'm not defending anybody here, but I just wanted to point out that $2,700 could be gotten with a 1 point drop in your interest rate. That's just about what I saved when I refinanced my mortgage.

In Dodd's case, that was three-quarters of a point. Now, we have to look into whether he could've gotten such a reduction in rates on his own.

Ok, just have to say that any Congressman or woman who calls the CEO of any company to inquire about a business arrangement and then claims they didn't know they would be special treatment is a complete liar.  If they didn't want special treatment they would go through regular channels just like the rest of us.

FYI - I know this type of stuff goes on all the time.  You make contacts in the business world and you use them and return favors to benefit you or your company.  But when you work for the taxpayers and you regulate that particular industry you are treading a very, very, very thin line with this type of behavior.

This is even more concerning than those phone calls between Obama and Scarlett Johanssen you blogged about.

Thank you for your concern.  If only more Democrats were as concerned as you are, we could make sure all of our concerns were taken care of.

Thanks for being a part of the

This is basically bs. These guys got the best deal on their mortgage they could. People do it every day. Was there a smidgen of influence in the whole transaction. Probably. But get real here if  you're a US senator you don't get treated like one of the unemployed. It it totall fair. No. But it's life.  

Hillary has never waited in line for 35 years!!!

And yet, she claims to be a democrat?

I'm aghast! But the MSM never reported it. No surprise there either.

is this 'VIP Program' one that is officially available to any other members of the public?  For example, is the program listed in their advertising materials or on their website?  If so, I don't see a problem.  

Should a senator bargain for a higher rate than the one legitimately offered?  On the other hand, if anyone can prove that this rate would never be offered to anyone ever who was not a senator, I do see a problem.

This issue has so clearly and perhaps, even painfully, demonstrated the issues that have arisen within our party recently.

There cannot be any "free pass" given to someone because they happen to have a (D) after there name.  There cannot be any "free pass" given to someone because they happen to have supportered your preferred primary candidate.

This is not concern trolling, as some have so masterfully and immaturely tried to portray it as.  This is the most fundamental, bedrock concern which we ought to have, especially in the Democratic Party: a concern for legitimate government.

Senators Dodd and Conrad have both violated that legitimacy, and deserve to be taken to task for it.  The only word I can find to describe someone who feels differently is, well, "shill".

I've been a Democrat all my life

I find that hard to believe.

Yes, Dodd "only" received $2,700 in interest rate discounts.  But, PER YEAR FOR THIRTY YEARS.

And, Conrad "only" received $10,000 in interest rate discounts. But, PER YEAR FOR THIRTY YEARS.

I think you need to go back and check your facts.

The loans translate into money saved. For example, in Dodd's case, Portfolio calculates that "the lower rates save the senator about $58,000 on his Washington residence over the life of the loan, and $17,000 on the Connecticut home."

In the case of Conrad, he saved about $10,700 on a loan he took out for his $1.07 million home in Bethany Beach, Del.

I swear the inability to call our leaders to task when they do something wrong will be the downfall of this party.  It has already contributed to the situation we find ourselves in today so I guess something like this is barely a blip on the radar to some people.  We have not come a long way, baby.

Oh wait, Dodd is a big Obama supporter. He stood by Obama when Obama needed him. Now he needs us. Circle the wagons boys. Time for some new politics.

This diary brings speciousness to an entirely new level. The Diarist can be proud of that remarkable accomplishment. In fact I'm compelled to say,

"Mega-Dittoes!"

Just sit there?

corrupt, insolvent, predatory Countrywide

Considering that, at the time they got the loans, Countrywide was just another mortgage company that hadn't gotten mired in its current troubles, isn't throwing on all that rhetoric a bit unnecessary?

I don't think it reflects poorly on Dodd or Conrad that they chose one of a number of prominent mortgage companies to get loans.  And, before I pass judgment on them for being part of the "V.I.P." program, I'd have to know how many people got mortgage deals under that program.  Was it just governmental higher-ups with whom Countrywide was trying to gain influence?  Or was it a larger program for people in any field of employment with high salaries and top credit ratings?  In this particular case, it would appear context is everything -- just as it was when Hillary Clinton was on the board of WalMart, in the days before Walton's children made it such an exploitative behemoth.

Hmmm, why do I have a feeling if this were Evan Bayh and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz you guys wouldn't have posted and mass thug-rec'd this ala the alegre days?

...at least you'll seem like less of a dork over there. Scarlett Johanson? are you high? I'll say it real slow:

HILLARY FRAKKIN" LOST! GET OVER IT!

 troll....

it does stink...I think what makes it more notable than your average Washington sleaze is the fact that Dodd is chairman of the House Banking Committee, which is supposed to regulate the very people from whom he was getting "goodies". His long-forgotten father, Senator Thomas Dodd, is one of only nine members in Senate history to have been censured--his offense was misappropriating camgaign funds. So let's just say that ethical behavior doesn't exactly run in the family.

More reprehensible--and less reported--is the fact that our Federal Reserve now has three vacancies, which will become four at the end of August with Fed Governor Mishkin's departure. Senator Dodd refuses to confirm any of Bush's nominees to fill the openings, which have existed for some time. Once Mishkin departs, the Fed will have less that 5 members--the number required for a quorum--for the first time since 1936.

We all know how the game is played in the Senate--frankly, if this were a Supreme Court vacancy, I'd probably favor waiting until next year to confirm anyone, in the hopes that a President Obama make the nomination. But the shit that Dodd is trying to pull is dangerous, in that the Fed not only needs to function, but should project strength to financial markets. Deliberately reducing it to half strength is not only petty, but the kind of extreme partisanship that McCain and his "gang of 14" regularly decry.

This may not be an issue now, but it will be come Fall, and I think it will be a lot more serious than Dodd's friendship with creeps like Angelo Mozillo. At a minimum, it will undercut Senator Obama's hopes for "a new kind of politics".

Good thing Dodd never broke into the top tier during the primaries. This is a disappointing.

I have a hard time believing that this diary was written in good faith.

Well as soon as every Republican Senator resigns their seat and we send the entire Bush administration to the Hague for trial I'll think about your suggestion.

I did some googling, and Conrad and Dodd were two of several people who got the "VIP" treatment. Those involved in the Democratic party include:

participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Jackson was deputy H.U.D. secretary in the Bush administration when he received the loans in 2003. Shalala, who received two loans in 2002, had by then left the Clinton administration for her current position as president of the University of Miami....Holbrooke, whose stint as U.N. ambassador ended in 2001, was also working in the private sector when he and his family received V.I.P. loans. He was an adviser to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

<snip>

Most of the officials belonged to a group of V.I.P. loan recipients known in company documents and emails as "F.O.A.'s"--Friends of Angelo, a reference to Countrywide chief executive Angelo Mozilo. While the V.I.P. program also serviced friends and contacts of other Countrywide executives, the F.O.A.'s made up the biggest subset.

According to company documents and emails, the V.I.P.'s received better deals than those available to ordinary borrowers. Home-loan customers can reduce their interest rates by paying "points"--one point equals 1 percent of the loan's value. For V.I.P.'s, Countrywide often waived at least half a point and eliminated fees amounting to hundreds of dollars for underwriting, processing and document preparation. If interest rates fell while a V.I.P. loan was pending, Countrywide provided a free "float-down" to the lower rate, eschewing its usual charge of half a point. Some V.I.P.'s who bought or refinanced investment properties were often given the lower interest rate associated with primary residences.

Unless they asked, V.I.P. borrowers weren't told exactly how many points were waived on their loans, the former employee says. However, they were typically assured that they were receiving the "Friends of Angelo" discount, and that Mozilo had personally priced their loans.

This article has much more detail (though it seems rahter right leaning, as no Republicans are mentioned).

A slap on the wrist is all they're going to get.

I don't like the idea of Democrats getting caught in anything, but I also can't believe the desire of a lot of people here to smear the diarist because he is the messenger when the Democrats do do something wrong.  

Many of you didn't live through, or else don't remember when Dan Rostenkowski, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in Congress, and also an extremely  powerful Democrat, was involved in a scandal involving privilege and misuse of funds.  The beginning of the scandal was nothing much, but as it grew it got deeper and deeper until it brought the whole party down. Better that is was cut off at the beginning than when it ws. That was the last time that Democrats ever had any power or leverage in this government.  NO govt person should take special privileges even if it is legal, if it is using their status to bring them personal wealth.  It is an abuse of the system, of the voters who voted for them, and of those who have no other choice but to trust them with their own lives.

I don't care which Party it is, it needs to be stopped before it brings us down later after noone has called them on the beginnings of it, and turned their heads the other way.  Dodd and Conrad should know better, and the fact that they get careless and start living in a power bubble is a bad sign for us in the future.

As for diary recommendations, this one I have not recommended solely based on the fact that it make legal conclusions based on which calls for actions are urged. mydd is not a surrogate court, nor do any of its members have access to the facts of the cases. Actually, it appears like some of the facts of the cases have been brought up somewhere and there was a response by the two Senators.

I don't have to agree with a diary's contents to recommend it. I might do so if it brings up issues or points that can be countered with less than puerile comments (see first point). As these types of accusations are going to pop up with increasing frequency, I see no reason why myDD participants should not have the ability to practice commenting on them.

Calling out the recommenders of diaries is bad. If you have something to say to someone, say it directly to one of their posts. Otherwise, it really does smack of intimidation and silencing of discussion. Thats the surest way to make random stupidity and calculated baseless attacks take on more significance than they have.

That said, there should be thousands of diaries on the ethical lapses or questions of impropriety of the Republicans who have controlled this country for a long time. There is the whole lying about conditions leading up to the war, the oft repeated statement by McCain that our economy is just humming along nicely, etc.

This applies to this diary and the outraged about this diary diary, which I'm sure will prompt another round of outrage about diaries that are permitted to be posted by the administrators. Not clear that really helps promote any cause.

"Dodd and Conrad need to resign their chairs. TODAY."

Nope.

"And, Obama needs to call for it. TODAY."

Nope.

"We Democrats need to stop being afraid of Republicans and stop mirroring their talking points."

Yup.

I find it funny that you would update and ask where to report TR abuse, since it's likely that you're not going to report each incident in this diary, and just the ones that personally offended you.

joke.

They 'allegedly' procured mortgages.  Warm up old sparky.