Taciturnity, cont'd

MANIFESTO

Chris Dodd has finally made some comments regarding his and his wife's arrangement with Countrywide Financial, and I can't say they're as forthcoming as they might be. The Courant reports this morning that

Dodd admitted Tuesday that he and his wife were told during their 2003 loan process with Countrywide Financial Corp. that they were being included in a special VIP program, but the senator—one of the most powerful congressional voices on the regulation of the mortgage industry—didn't ask what that meant.

In two news conferences, Dodd said he interpreted his inclusion in this program as a "courtesy" for being a longtime Countrywide customer—not as special treatment because of his Senate position.

Needless to say, the paper betrays a certain tone in its coverage. It's as if the senator is being asked, "Just how stupid do you think we are?"

Obviously, this is a story that's not going to go away any time soon as

[t]he Senate ethics committee has begun a preliminary investigation of the special treatment a mortgage lender afforded Sen. Christopher Dodd and [Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota].

Because many people may not be aware of this, the Courant points out that

using one's political position to personal advantage is sensitive for the senior Democratic senator from Connecticut. Such accusations are what ended the political career of his senator father, Thomas Dodd, to whom Dodd devoted a recent book. The book—focusing on the elder Dodd's time as a prosecutor of Nazi war criminals—deals only briefly with the career-ending allegations, but the pain for Dodd's family is clear in its pages.

What I really don't like about the whole thing is the appearance of ignorance on the part of Connecticut's senior senator. This is too reminiscent of Kenny Boy's and Jeff Skilling's incredible "I didn't know what was going on" defenses of a few years ago. While I certainly affirm the notion of innocent until proved guilty, my experience has been that they always know what's going on, but come up with an incurable case of amnesia once the hearing or trial starts.