"When I go home," Dodd says, crossing Constitution Avenue in the fading light, "people don't ask me about the warrants, or the accountability standards, or how much transparency there is, or what am I doing about systemic risk. I mean, some do, obviously, like community bankers and businesspeople who are knowledgeable. The average person looks at me and says, 'What are you doing? You're writing a check [for bailouts]? And 700 people at Merrill Lynch on average got $5.1 million? What are you people thinking?' You know? You cannot explain this to them."
Got that? Chris Dodd does not think you are intelligent enough to understand all of the complicated things he is doing in Washington for us. If you question whether throwing hundreds of billions dollars of borrowed money at a problem he created is the best way to deal with our current predicament, it is only because you are a simpleton, and you should just leave that kind of heavy lifting to the professionals.
His constituents aren't buying what he is selling. The Register-Citizen has a report indicating that Dodd's message may not be resonating as he hopes (HT Politico):
Just how much trouble is Sen. Chris Dodd in as he runs for re-election next year? You’ve seen the surprising opinion polls showing record unfavorability, and other poll finding that any Republican — even those virtually unknown across the state - would beat him easily if the election were held today. Well, at the well-attended annual meeting of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, outgoing President Joe Greco’s comments about various dignitaries, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, being unable to make it was followed by a crack about Dodd being available but the group asking him to stay away. It was met by laughter and a very loud round of applause from the several hundred, typically reserved, local businesspeople, in the room.
Then there's the Irish cottage thing Dodd was just beginning to think had faded away. Not so. Judicial Watch has filed a formal complaint with the United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics. You can read the entire complaint, complete with exhibits, here. And instead of addressing the complaint on it's merits, Dodd said the following through a spokesman (as reported by the Hartford Courant):
"It's appalling that any 'respectable' news organization would give currency to the rantings of this laughable band of kooks," spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said in a brief statement. "Their allegations are a joke, beneath dignifying.
No denial, no explanation, no recent appraisal showing there is no issue here, just an attack on the newspaper that reports that a complaint was filed. Despite his plummeting poll numbers he has still refused to acknowledge, even to himself, apparently, that Connecticut voters think he is full of crap. Chris Healey at The Everyday Republican has a post on the complaint, as well.
And it's not just Republicans. Even though the President has sworn his allegiance to the Dodd re-election campaign, there is at least one Dem who doesn't think Dodd deserves Obama's support. Roger Pearson, who is considering a primary run against Dodd, wrote this letter to the President asking him to reconsider.
Here's to hoping Dodd stays in the race long enough to lose to whoever the Republicans ultimately choose to challenge him.
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