countrywide – Moe Lane

Dick Blumenthal’s Countrywide problem.

Jerry Brown’s, too.

It’s not often that you’ll see a conservative site link approvingly to a Nation article, but these are odd days. The executive summary: in 2008 Countrywide Financial/Bank of America – yes, the same Countrywide that gave sweetheart loans to Senator Dodd of Connecticut, who completely non-coincidentally decided not to run for re-election this year – entered into a 8.6 billion dollar settlement with those of its borrowers currently in financial trouble. The Nation has a variety of opinions – generally unfavorable, to put it mildly – on how well that settlement is working; but the part of the article that should really be drilled down from our point of view is the bit about how this is all being paid for. You see, in that announcement Blumenthal indicated “This settlement will cost BofA as much as $8.6 billion, but no cost, not a dime, to taxpayers.”

The Nation calls that a flat lie: Continue reading Dick Blumenthal’s Countrywide problem.

I count coup on Senator Chris Dodd (D-Countrywide).

False modesty be damned.

I do not claim the scalp – that honor is collectively shared by the VRWC as a whole – but by God I will count coup on the man. He’s going out the door, and he didn’t want to go, and his party’s leadership didn’t want him to go. He’s going because a lot of people – including myself – kept reminding the Connecticut electorate that Chris Dodd was a corrupt suckweasel of a Democrat; and while as a Republican I may be worse off with Richard Blumenthal entering the race, as an American I’m better off with Dodd leaving it.

So good job to everybody else who helped take Dodd down, too.

Moe Lane

PS: So, who should be next on the list?

Crossposted to RedState.

See Dodd spin. Spin, Dodd! Spin!

Senator Chris Dodd (D, Irish Mansion CT) is having a time of it with this sweetheart Countrywide loans thing. First off, the Senate Ethics investigation somehow managed to avoid going after him for his activities, which meant that Dodd thought that he could start repairing the damage to his fundraising reputation (H/T: Instapundit):

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd is saying it’s time to move on from the long-running Countrywide Financial VIP loan scandal.

[snip]

“I feel the matter’s behind us,” Dodd said. “We ought to move on.”

Continue reading See Dodd spin. Spin, Dodd! Spin!

Hi, Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). Enjoying your Countrywide mortgage?

You know, the one that’s just like the ones that your fellow Democrat Chris Dodd (D-CT) got?

Report Details Countrywide’s Efforts to Benefit VIPs

WASHINGTON — – Executives at Countrywide Financial, one of the biggest names of the housing boom, routinely violated internal company policies to provide below-market rates on home loans to the politically connected and powerful, according to a congressional report to be released Thursday.

[snip]

Recipients of special loans included senators and other officials, prominent businessmen, congressional aides, celebrities and journalists, including Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke, former Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Jackson’s daughter and others.

Via Jeff Goldstein. Continue reading Hi, Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). Enjoying your Countrywide mortgage?