…Connecticut voters are not smiling about Dodd’s hypocritical bashing of lobbyists on the airwaves while he parties with them behind closed doors. And as they scrimp through the recession, they haven’t forgotten about Dodd’s dozy Irish cottage deal with convicted insider trader Edward Downe, Jr. (who received a Clinton pardon with Dodd’s generous help). Sandra Harris, an unaffiliated voter from West Hartford, told the Hartford Courant: “I’ve lost respect for him…It’s time for a change.” A Quinnipiac poll now shows that 60 percent of key independent voters disapprove of Dodd.
But Dodd’s cratering numbers and mounting ethics scandal aren’t just about Dodd. Damaged birds of a feather flock together. Even before these latest disclosures, Dodd’s approval ratings had dropped to their lowest levels ever. Yet, President Obama – agent of the “new politics,” erstwhile Breath of Fresh Air, guarantor of all that is good and clean in Washington — declared his support for Dodd’s 2010 re-election campaign bid.
“I can’t say it any clearer: I will be helping Chris Dodd because he deserves the help,” President Obama announced in April. “He just has an extraordinary record of accomplishment, and I think the people of Connecticut will come to recognize that.”
Obama progressives should cringe at their president’s bear hug of one of the most ethically-compromised politicians on Capitol Hill. The Beltway swamp is teeming with Democratic corruption scandals (Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha’s earmark factory and tax-subsidized airports and radars to nowhere; New York representative Charlie Rangel’s rent-controlled apartment scams and tax scandals; California representative Maxine Waters’s business ties to a minority-owned bank that received $12 million in TARP money under smelly circumstances, for starters). But Dodd’s career epitomizes the most fetid aspects of Washington’s culture of corruption. It’s a textbook case of nepotism, self-dealing, back-scratching, corporate lobbying, government favors, and entrenched incumbency…
Michelle Malkin’s column continues at Dodd and Obama: Corrupt birds of a feather
