Christopher Dodd: Too Greedy to Serve, Too Dumb to Swindle

Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd has proven what I've always suspected: he's a villain of the lowest order.

If there were a political version of "America's Dumbest Criminals," Dodd would have been on it at least three times by now. Tuesday, he told the world he had no clue who inserted the dastardly, middle-of-the night stimulus package loophole that allowed AIG to pay huge bonuses to fleeing executives with American tax money.

Here he is the very next day jabbering incoherently about how it was actually him all along, but he somehow never knew. But he did know for sure that it was done at the request of Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration.

Which is probably true, because when you get right down to it, Dodd's not fast enough these days to figure something that complex out on his own. He just does what his handlers tell him, as long as it continues to make him money.

In case you've forgotten, this is the same guy (Dodd) who told CNN in July, 2008 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "sound" less than a month before they went under.

Not too much has changed since those warm summer days eight months ago. Today we find out that Dodd received more campaign financing money from AIG than any other member of Congress, just like last year (after his bone-headed statement to CNN), we found out he had received more money from Fannie and Freddie than any other member of Congress.

I'd call him a criminal, but that would be insulting all the honest crooks. There is, after all, honor among thieves. They at least try to be careful. Dodd's not even worried about leaving a trail.

As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd's made some highly suspicious decisions. He's a walking ethics nightmare. I'm guessing that if he thought about it at all, he never imagined his behind-the-back maneuver (the one where he slipped the bonus loophole into the stimulus package) would come back to haunt him, but with all the attention being paid to these gigantic corporations, how could he not? Dodd is that rare breed of politician who is either too greedy to serve the people or too dumb to swindle them. Either way, he shouldn't be in office.

There is a little good news in all this, though. Former Republican Congressman Rob Simmons announced Sunday that he will challenge Dodd, and that's not all. Connecticut State Sen. Sam Caligiuri and conservative CNBC financial personality Larry Kudlow are both considering taking a shot at Dodd, as well. Even better: a Quinnipiac Poll published last week shows that Dodd is already in deep trouble -- and that was before he stuck his foot in his mouth this week.

If Dodd really is shown the door in 2010, taxpayers may actually look back on this mess as a blessing. At that point, they might say to themselves, "Think of how much more money he would have cost us if we'd have let the bugger stick around."

In this case, the politician you know really is worse than the politician you don't know.