The Wall Street-Washington incest MUST end.

This coming Tuesday, America has a chance to ring that bell, expose that incest, cleanse the system, and deliver the message loud and clear. The peal of that bell must emanate from the 4th District in the state of Massachusetts.

You do not need to read Sense on Cents to appreciate that many politicians from both sides of the aisle have badly forsaken our nation’s future with misguided and ill-advised policies over the last few decades. Many of these politicians now look to save their skins– if not their souls– by professing a newly found religion with an anti-Wall Street mantel. America, and the residents of the 4th District in Massachusetts, should not be so easily hoodwinked. These politicians, especially Barney Frank, must be held accountable and sent home.

I implore the voters of the 4th District to think long and hard and appreciate that their longstanding elected representative Barney Frank embraced the people and the policies which continue to crush our nation. Which people? What policies? Those which were centered in America’s great financial sinkhole known as Fannie Mae then led by its former CEO Franklin Raines. During my own career on Wall Street, I witnessed Barney’s bear hug of Fannie and Franklin from up close. Do not forget Barney’s desire to ‘roll the dice’ with sub-prime mortgage financing.

Many media outlets will look the other way in holding Barney accountable; I have no interest in that.

In my strong opinion, Fannie Mae was nothing more than a Washington sponsored “Enron on steroids.” Who led the charge on Capitol Hill for the ‘private profit, social loss’ housing monster? Many Democrat and Republican politicos gladly stuck their hands in the Fannie Mae gift bag, but no politician more stridently promoted the programs of Fannie Mae than Barney Frank. Recalling Barney’s work on behalf of Fannie over the years, it was readily apparent to me that he had no understanding of the risks of mispricing capital. For those involved in the private sector and focused on properly pricing risk, the reality of a career politician not appreciating the proper price of capital is not difficult to understand. Regrettably, all of America now pays the price for Barney’s shortcoming and that of so many of his colleagues. While we pay that price, we do not need to and must not suffer from that shortcoming any longer.

I am not endorsing Sean Bielat simply because Barney ran interference for Fannie Mae and its failed socialized housing program for the last few decades. No, my interest in seeing the voters of the 4th District in Massachusetts “retire Barney” is also predicated on events of the last twelve months as well. How so? Where else did Barney fail us? Let’s continue to navigate.

Barney Frank is the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. In that role, he led the charge to supposedly re-regulate Wall Street via the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform legislation. Say what you want about that legislation, but let me remind all of America that our pal Barney did not venture close to ‘ground zero’ during this process. Really? How so? As I wrote last March 22nd in my commentary, The BIG Hole in Financial Regulatory Reform:

Why am I so skeptical that Senator Chris Dodd’s proposed Financial Regulatory Reform (for overachievers in the audience, the link connects to the 89-page proposal) will truly change behaviors on Wall Street? For the very simple reason that I have seen no highlighting of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority within the proposed Financial Regulatory Reform. Strike you as a little odd? It strikes me that the Wall Street lobby is hard at work keeping its self-regulator, that being FINRA, right where they want it.

The fact that FINRA is not singled out by name in Dodd’s report is a HUGE red flag. Over and above that, Dodd’s proposal is nothing more than a review of the SEC’s oversight of FINRA. Why only once every three years? A review of the reviewer? That’s accountability? That’s transparency? Not in my book. In my opinion, that’s both a joke and a confirmation that the Wall Street lobby was hard at work to keep the wolves at bay!!

While my commentary last March focused specifically on Chris Dodd, the simple fact is Barney Frank walked very much in lock step with Dodd on this reform. The ultimate 2000-plus page Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform legislation barely makes mention of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Strike you as a little odd? Yes, me too. Very odd!!

Regrettably, America has come to understand that most political and financial reform is ultimately that in name only.

Neither Dodd nor Frank can say that they were not FULLY apprised of ALL the issues within FINRA. I shared all of my concerns regarding FINRA with the Project on Government Oversight early this year. POGO itself was also looking hard at the structural and practical failings of FINRA. Regular readers of Sense on Cents are well aware of my calls for increased transparency for FINRA. Those calls were echoed by POGO but they fell upon deaf ears in Washington. I wrote in my March commentary:

Perhaps Senator Dodd and his colleagues may want to review the Project on Government Oversight’s thoughts on FINRA in which they call the very concept of self-regulation for Wall Street into question. POGO’s letter to four separate Congressional sub-committees can be found here.

Neither Dodd, Frank, nor anybody else on Capitol Hill ever addressed POGO’s letter and grave concerns. That fact should be the final nail in Barney Frank’s political coffin.

Chris Dodd’s political career is over.

I implore the citizens of the 4th District in Massachusetts to do our nation an enormous service and end Barney Frank’s political career this coming Tuesday.

Sense on Cents strongly endorses Sean Bielat!!

Larry Doyle

P.S. I typically shun from this type of commentary. That said,  given the historic nature of this election and this specific race, I believe it is my civic responsibility to share my feelings and a link to my March commentary. Comments, questions, and constructive criticisms are encouraged and appreciated.

Please subscribe to all my work via e-mail, an RSS feed, on Twitter or Facebook.

I have no affiliation or business interest with any entity referenced in this commentary. As President of Greenwich Investment Management, an SEC regulated privately held registered investment adviser, I am merely a proponent of real transparency within our markets so that investor confidence and investor protection can be achieved.

The consumer protection bureau was the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren, a bankruptcy expert, consumer advocate and Harvard Law Professor who lobbied heavily for the creation of bureau.  So naturally, Ms. Warren seemed the obvious, as well as the ideal, person to head the new consumer protection bureau.

(Video by the Main Street Brigade in support of Elizabeth Warren candidacy for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directorship.)

Pressure mounts for ‘Sheriff’ Elizabeth Warren says Jennifer Liberto at CNN Money:

Last week, 43 House Democrats sent a letter to President Obama, asking him to nominate Warren and requesting a meeting at the White House to discuss Warren’s appointment.

“You have an opportunity to appoint to head this body a true visionary — not the usual Washington careerist. You have an opportunity to appoint to this body the single best-qualified choice,” said the letter, signed by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., among others.

But Ms. Warren hasn’t exactly made friends with the powerful Banking community or the Treasury Department in her role as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program).

(h/t Alain Sherter for this oldie, but goodie of Ms. Warren and Mr. Geithner)

From the moment the bill was signed into law the Obama administration was quick to point out Warren isn’t the only candidate for the director job.  And even some congressional allies began sounding like detractors.  Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee warned Warren’s nomination could cause a protracted and lengthy battle in the Senate.  And he has repeatedly questioned whether Warren has the appropriate management skills to lead a large federal bureaucracy.

As Shahien Nasiripour at Huffington Post explains Dodd Questions Elizabeth Warren’s Management Experience — A Concern He’s Never Raised Before

… it’s the first time Chairman Dodd has publicly raised such an issue when it came to evaluating presidential nominees to agency positions under the banking committee’s purview.

A review of transcripts from past confirmation hearings shows that Dodd has never questioned the management experience of nominees to head federal agencies his committee oversees. The heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Housing Administration, the Export-Import Bank and the National Credit Union Administration all survived hearings under Dodd’s chairmanship without him once asking a question about the experience needed to guide their respective agencies.

Nor did Dodd raise any management questions when prospective bank regulators came before his committee — even when the regulators did not have significant management experience. In the two years prior to his assuming the chairmanship in 2007, the heads of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and a prior chief of the SEC all came before his committee. Each time, Dodd declined to ask about their experience running bureaucracies, a review of transcripts shows.

In fact, Dodd didn’t even show up for two of those hearings.

Two names that are bandied about to the director Michael Barr, a top lieutenant to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Eugene Kimmelman, a top lawyer in the Justice Department.  But a third might win the prize.

In Obama & Frank: double dips and Washington exit strategies, Christopher Whalen:

It is becoming clear that the Obama Administration may not pick a candidate for the CFPB job until after the November election in order to dodge this very political issue.  By holding the voting on the new agency head until after the election, members of both parties will be able to extract maximum contributions from the banking lobby.  But I hear that the choice may have already been made.

It may surprise some observers that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank may want the CFPB job for himself.  Frank reportedly has already expressed interest to the White House.  Sad to say, Chairman Frank probably has seniority over Chairman Warren.

“Barney did some heavy lifting,” says a source on the committee who is close to Frank.  “He might want a different gig, especially if he loses the chairman’s seat in November.  Frank would not want to hang around in Congress as part of the minority.  Being the first CFPB emperor, however, could be a more interesting gig than, say, eventually being made head of HUD of the FHA.”

Elizabeth Warren explains her problem with Congress’ response to protecting the American people during a radio interview in June ’10 with host Tom Ashbrook of On Point:

I got nothing when I walk into the room. You have to understand this. I don’t walk in with any votes, I don’t have any money to give. I just want to talk to people about what’s going on. And I think the part that is the hardest is sometimes I will talk to people in Congress – look, I think most of them, they didn’t go to Congress in order to lie, cheat, and steal. I think most of them went because they had some sense somewhere in their hearts at some point about public service. And I talk about what happens to middle class families and I watch faces, I watch eyes, connect on this, that say, “Yeah, I go back home, too.” And they name towns across America. And they say, “People are scared, people are worried, people are out of work. These are the things I hear in the grocery store, these are things I hear in the town hall meetings.”

TOM ASHBROOK: So what’s the counterweight then?

ELIZABETH WARREN: And then I say, “OK, look, here are three things we can do. But it’s about reining in an incredibly powerful industry. It’s about reining in a group that gives money and knows how to exercise power in Washington.” And I just watch the light go out, because it’s not going to happen.

Elizabeth Warren wants to protect the people.  But it’s the Bankers, not Ms. Warren or the American people, that have the money and the power to keep the lights on for Congress and President. So Congress knows who they need to protect first and foremost.  And its not the people.  Or Ms. Warren.

But why Barney Frank for the Director of the consumer financial protection bureau?

From Alain Sherter’s at BNet - Is Barney Frank After Elizabeth Warren’s Job Even Before She Has It?:

Frank, a fixture on Capitol Hill, knows how to cut deals with big business, as he showed in helping lead the fight over financial reform. It’s no accident that his leading financial contributor over his career is the American Bankers Association, followed by JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

So what are the odds of the Bankers getting what the Bankers want?

***

Uh, um, hell yes, there was a big problem with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rep. Waters.

But wait, there’s more. Here is Rep. Waters revealing her true position on the government’s role in terms of Big Oil:

Okay, okay – I couldn’t resist that version. Too funny. Here is the real version:

Yes, all of that stuttering trying to cover up what she had just said is real. Yowzer.

Now, personally, I think Rep. Waters has demonstrated a complete and utter lack of integrity when it comes to financial issues, judging by her comments on Fannie and Freddie. So have Dodd and Frank, for that matter. That the latter two are the authors of a financial regulatory bill should give great pause to everyone.

So, it really should come as no surprise that now she wants to legislate quotas into the new Dood-Frank Financial Regulatory bill. Oh, how I wish I was kidding. According to this Daily Caller piece, that is exactly what Rep. Waters has done,
Racial Quotas in Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Bill:

The Dodd-Frank financial regulatory bill, ostensibly aimed at reforming Wall Street and preventing a future financial crisis, will impose racial and gender quotas on financial institutions if passed, according to economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth.

Section 342 of the bill will establish Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion in at least 20 federal financial services agencies. These offices will be tasked with implementing “standards and procedures to ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the fair inclusion and utilization of minorities, women, and minority-owned and women-owned businesses in all business and activities of the agency at all levels, including in procurement, insurance, and all types of contracts.”

So called “fair inclusion” will apply to “financial institutions, investment banking firms, mortgage banking firms, asset management firms, brokers, dealers, financial services entities, underwriters, accountants, investment consultants and providers of legal services.”

The provision goes on to assert that the government will terminate contracts with institutions they deem have “failed to make a good faith effort to include minorities and women in their workforce.” [snip]

Good grief. Quotas? Where does that leave “anti-discrimination” regulations, then? That question is answered here:

The provision goes on to assert that the government will terminate contracts with institutions they deem have “failed to make a good faith effort to include minorities and women in their workforce.”

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, spotlighted the controversial section in an article at Real Clear Markets on June 8th. She told The Daily Caller that the law amounts to a quota system.

“This is a radical shift in employment legislation,” she said. “The law effectively changes the standard by which institutions are evaluated from anti-discrimination regulations to quotas. In order to be in compliance with the law these businesses will have to show that they have a certain percentage of women and a certain percentage of minorities.”

Furchtgott-Roth worries that this might be a harbinger of things to come.

“So what does this mean? Are we going to get rid of anti-discrimination laws all together and just put in quotas? Could this be what’s to come in other sectors?” she questioned. [snip]

Click HERE to read the rest.

Yes, I would say this is a huge departure from anti-discrimination regulations. That a quota system is being buried in this financial regulation shouldn’t really come as a surprise, I guess. But still, it does.

Wow. Has it really been less than two years since the Democrats controlled all three houses? Sure seems longer, especially considering all they have shoved down our throats. Er, I mean, “accomplished.”

And I guess if Rep. Waters gets her way, we’ll have another one shoved down our throats. Yep, pretty soon, quotas for everyone, coming to a business near you soon!! Good grief…

Oh, yeah – Freddie Mac is asking for TEN Billion Dollars. I reckon they just want to add it to their tab:

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports:

Government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac today asked for $10.6 billion in additional federal aid after reporting a loss of $8 billion in the first three months of this year.

To date Freddie Mac has been provided with around $51 billion in government funds. The new aid would bring the total assistance to the lender to over $61 billion.

Late last year the Treasury Department essentially agreed to provide a blank check to Freddie Mac and fellow government-backed lender Fannie Mae when the agency controversially removed the cap on federal support for the lenders.

A “blank check”? That is what Geithner wants to give Freddie and Fannie? I reckon that’s what happens when you have someone in charge who can’t even fill out his own tax forms properly (or, as I like to say, a Tax cheat). Some folks aren’t happy about it, though:

Republicans have blasted the administration for that move, as well as for not putting forth a plan to overhaul the government-sponsored enterprises. Thus far the administration’s only action has been the April 14 release of a series of questions for public comment on what to do with the mortgage giants.

In addition, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has acknowledged that the government expects to suffer “very substantial losses” on its investments in the lenders, with recent estimates ranging around a minimum of $85 billion.

Well, that’s just jake – “a minimum of $85 billion.” That’s our money, folks.

And let’s not leave Fannie Mae out of this mix. Oh, no – now Fannie is asking for some more cash, too, a cool for $8.4 Billion more?:

Fannie Mae requested another $8.4 billion from the federal government on Monday, saying that it expects its deficits to continue due to trends in the housing and financial markets.

The government-controlled mortgage giant said it lost $13.1 billion applicable to common shareholders in the first quarter of 2010. In the year-earlier quarter, Fannie suffered a $23.2 billion loss, but an accounting change makes comparing the year-over-year losses difficult.

Fannie’s request for more federal funds comes just four days after Fannie’s twin Freddie Mac also asked for a handout – to the tune of $10.6 billion – after posting an $8 billion quarterly loss.

In using Fannie (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500) to prop up the mortgage market, the government in December lifted a $200 billion limit on their bailouts, essentially giving the twin housing lenders a blank check. Fannie Mae has already received $76.2 billion from the federal government and Freddie has gotten $50.7 billion.

“In the first quarter, we continued to serve as a leading source of liquidity to the mortgage market, and we made solid progress in our ongoing efforts to keep people in their homes,” Fannie Mae President and CEO Mike Williams, said in a press release.

Just to recap, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were largely responsible for bringing down the housing market (click HERE to read the rest of the article).

Yes, indeedy, so no doubt the new Finance Reform Bill begins with Fannie and Freddie, right? Oh, so wrong. Chris Dodd, who benefited mightily from Fannie Mae and Countrywide says, “Nooooooooo.” Dodd thinks it should wait:

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said Friday that legislation to address troubled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to come after the current financial-reform effort.

Fannie and Freddie, which are known as “government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs), have been a lightning rod for criticism of Democrats during the financial reform debate.

Dodd, who is chairman of the Banking Committee and has led the effort to craft a financial regulatory reform bill, said that there was not enough room in the legislation for rules covering Fannie and Freddie.

“Fannie and Freddie and the whole GSE system and it’s a great question and a legitimate one in desperate need of reform,” he said on CNBC. “But candidly there’s only so much I could only take on with this bill, and so that comes up. But not in this round. It’s in the next wave here we have to deal with GSEs.”

Well, sure, that makes sense, right? If you live in Upside-Down World, anyway (click HERE to read the rest). What a glaring, blatant, prop-up for those two entities that have done SO much to destroy the housing market. Unbelievable.

Frankly, I think this is a dereliction of duty on behalf of our Congress people. They refuse to hold accountable the very companies who wreaked havoc with our economy. They are in collusion with them. Even worse, they continue to throw money down the money hole.

I have used this video before, but it seems mighty timely given the requests of Fannie and Freddie (Onion video alert):

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

If only this were a joke…

Why?

The incestuous relationship between Wall Street and Washington took time and willing participants. Career politicians willing to sell their soul at the expense of the American taxpayer are critical for this incest to truly develop. Enter Chris Dodd.

Who was one of Freddie and Fannie’s big money recipients? Chris Dodd.

Who received a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo? Chris Dodd.

Who received huge campaign dough from the Wall Street mob? Chris Dodd.

Now that Dodd’s flow of money from his incestuous partners at Freddie, Fannie, and other large financial outlets has stopped, he knows the gig is up. As the residents of Connecticut were preparing to fire him, he now pulls the classic, “You can’t fire me because I just quit.” No surprise. Quitters never win.

America may have been forced to bail out Wall Street, but they certainly have no interest in bailing out Chris Dodd.

Dodd will stand in front of the microphone, shed a tear or two, talk about his lifelong efforts of working for the people of Connecticut and America. He will have his fellow career politicians and partners in incest sing his praises. America will collectively vomit.

There is no doubt Dodd realizes he has no chance to win re-election. Rather than face the music and pressure to provide real truth and transparency on a host of issues, Dodd puts his tail between his legs and pretends he is a statesman.

If Dodd were a real statesman, he would use his bully pulpit to truly expose the deep incest that permeated the Wall Street-Washington corridor for so long. He can start by calling Mary Schapiro on the carpet and ask her what really happened at FINRA. He can follow that up by getting Franklin Raines and Leland Brendsel back on the carpet to expose the corruption that occurred at Freddie and Fannie. America is stuck paying the bills for the failings of the SEC, FINRA, Freddie and Fannie. No single politician was more front and center of these failings than Chris Dodd.

Will Chris Dodd truly find religion and serve America’s interest in these his final days? Will hell freeze over?

Politicians from both sides of the aisle need to appreciate that this calling was never intended to generate personal wealth at taxpayers’ expense. Career politicians like Chris Dodd are the poster boys for America to demand term limits and real campaign finance reform.

The Republican crowd is no better.

If Chris Dodd truly wants to grab some bit of saving grace, perhaps he can convince Barney “I want to roll the dice” Frank to join him on the train out of town.

Thoughts, color, comments always appreciated.

LD

P.S. Reports are not yet confirmed, but the fact that Dodd showed up twice on the Sense on Cents Hall of Shame may have been the final factor convincing him to quit.

Colleen O’Connor, San Diego News Network, penned a fun article: King Obama v. Queen Clinton — Check or Checkmate? Her thesis is that the patient “Queen” is slowly but surely vanquishing the foes who betrayed her for Obama last year. I have another theory. Political operatives who backed Obama, turning their backs on the more qualified Clinton, are winding up under Obama’s big bus because they were not motivated by his qualifications, but a quest for power and influence they thought they would have in his new “kingdom.” One by one, they are finding out that their loyalty is not reciprocated by the master they chose to serve. As my father used to say “lies have short legs.”

O’Connor’s need to speculate proves two things, Hillary’s actions and career are endlessly fascinating and as in the primary, Obama was far more exciting when contrasted with her. When it was down to Obama and McCain, pundits complained of boredom. This harkens back to John King of CNN saying that reporters did not vet Obama because they were “obsessed with Hillary.” Guess they never heard of multitasking. That very obsession still fuels all manner of speculation about palace intrigue, true or not. O’Connor posits:

The Queen has the greatest maneuverability of all the chess pieces. She can be the most lethal. The King, by contrast, is often barricaded behind a wall of defenders, with little room to escape-save in a bold and risky fashion. The King is dying. Long live the Queen.

Quietly, and under almost everyone’s radar, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been vanquishing her foes, while President Barack Obama has been multiplying his.

Furthermore, she has been paying off her debts, while Obama has been multiplying his (and the country’s) I.O.U.s.

Obama is down in the polls. Clinton is up. He is losing his liberal base and taking heat on health care, the wars, broken promises, gate crashers, the bailouts, and a grand design that leaves his base behind.

As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote Sunday, “The Obama White House is morphing into the Bush White House with frightening speed. Its transparency is already fogged up.”

No one can say we didn’t warn them. O’Connor recites the litany of failed foes, i.e. Obama backers who have seen their popularity slip, legal troubles ensue, lose lucrative posts and otherwise have an awful time capitalizing on their betrayal of the “Queen.” Let’s not forget the disappearance of Howard Dean and Tom Daschle. She also discusses AG Martha Coakley as another potential victory for Hillary:

If Clinton supporter and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley wins that will make the ninth score that Clinton has settled. And it will have happened in the state that the Kennedy family once ruled.

And so this prediction came to pass as Martha Coakley won the Dem Primary for Teddy Kennedy’s senate seat. Bill Clinton’s last minute endorsement and his 500,000 robocalls were nice touches. And instead of Caroline Kennedy getting Hillary’s Senate seat … “the Governor of New York appointed Kirstin Gillibrand — a Clinton, not an Obama ally — and it is no secret that the Clintons made it happen.”

Many have tried to write Hillary Clinton’s political obituary. Even after she was appointed Secretary of State, the press pointed to special envoys Holbrooke and Mitchell as signs that Hillary was being “marginalized” not remembering she had campaigned on appointing them herself.

The King’s chess move, thought to be “brilliant,” underestimated the patience of the Queen.

The more likely truth is that these envoys were warming up her seat, functioning as a buffer zone while she was hunkering down, figuring out the terrain and her colleagues, just as she did when she first became the junior senator of New York. The work horse did not feel the need to show off before having accomplished something.

Obama’s lifelong habit of being cautious, voting “present” and splitting everything down the middle, may not get him re-elected.

If as the Clintons might already sense, that Obama is in trouble, his biggest threat remains Clinton.

O’Connor lists the disgraced philanderer John Edwards, Bill Richardson, now in “political purgatory,” John Kerry, coveting the SoS spot and being left in the cold, Chris Dodd, with approval ratings “on life support” “…saddled with financial scandals galore-involving all those marquee companies that all Americans have come to hate-Countrywide Financial, AIG-as well as sweetheart real estate deals, with convicted inside-traders; the very people and firms Dodd was supposed to regulate.”

Joe Biden is a particular under bus dweller, his wife lately mentioning he would have preferred the spot Hillary now occupies.

He is on the losing side of the debate over sending additional troops to Afghanistan. … Unflattering pieces about his gaffes and his “standing in the Administration” have begun to circulate in the liberal press — like in a recent column by Sam Stein of The Huffington Post.

Add to this his less than competent role on overseeing the stimulus package and detailing its success (with exaggerated numbers and made up Congressional Districts) and you see where his “standing” is headed. The latest poll showed Biden’s approval rating lower than Dick Cheney’s in the same period!

But offering political cover and spin is the price Biden paid for pushing a candidate who even he noted was not yet ready for the job. Here is the sweetest payback according to O’Connor:

However, the most stealth-like, damaging, and perhaps satisfactory capture, came from the inelegant dismissal of former Clinton White House counsel, turned Obama-supporter and Clinton basher, Greg Craig.

Craig, who turned on Clinton during the primaries, did so in a rather nasty, but effective email arguing that she failed the test as commander-in-chief, that her claims of involvement in foreign affairs were bogus, and that she “never answered the phone either to make a decision on any pressing national security issue-not at 3 a.m. or at any other time of day.”

Currently, Craig is out of the White House-dismissed in a manner that brought howls, from the liberal activists, and have accelerated the disbelief, doubt, and defections among the Obama “believers”.

As Elizabeth Drew wrote in Politico, the firing was “the shabbiest episode of his presidency.”

Craig did damage Clinton as he was a deeply respected operative in Washington. I cannot imagine Mr. Craig saw that payback coming. Even huge Obama allies were mortified at this episode. But it was his own President who threw him under the bus, not Hillary. O’Connor even mentions Sen. Max Baucus…

Baucus has admitted — after repeatedly denying — that he was intimately involved with his state director, when he nominated her for the position of U.S. Attorney from Montana on “her merits.”

Currently under possible ethics violation for the nomination — not the lying, or the tryst, as both parties were separated at the time — Baucus’ political capital has eroded. He, too, competes with Tiger Woods for late night comedy jibes. Baucus’ year is ending badly.

It is fine to magically attribute these “paybacks” to the “Queen” but these guys are just being themselves – they don’t need anyone to show their true nature. They are doing a fine job all by themselves. The press doesn’t have its Hillary-obsession to buffer these guys from the spotlight any longer. In fact, the press tries everything it can to cover her as little as humanly possible. She has won huge awards and accolades this year, barely any of which have received more than a cursory mention.

On other fronts, it was reported many Norwegians were incensed that President Obama collected his Nobel Prize and snubbed them by not attending certain traditional events including lunch with King Harald of Norway. This is but another example of what happens when you become a notch on the bedpost. King Harald is just one of many on the list. I wonder how happy the Nobel committee is that they offered the prize to Obama now, particularly since his acceptance of the peace prize came hard on the heels of authorizing an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, however late his action was taken.

To top it all off, the members of the press corps are sad that the Obamas have done away with the traditional receiving line at many of the WH parties, so reporters will not be able to greet and pose with the President. Politico reports:

…for the White House to do away with the formal line is no small matter to those who work this beat every day: many guests feel it’s the main reason to attend, no matter who’s in office.

“It’s always been a big deal,” said [Dee Dee] Myers, who served as press secretary to former President Bill Clinton. “It’s exhausting [for the president] but it’s the one time when reporters feel like they’re treated like human beings and not just some guy behind the rope line. It’s the one time they can actually say hello.”

“Under the Bush administration, invites went out before Thanksgiving, reporters said. “I’m wondering if they just don’t have their act together on the social stuff,” one print reporter said…

“This year’s process seems so screwed up. It’s one big horrible mess,” said one veteran White House reporter. “The White House knows who covers the beat and they also know who should be attending. A lot of people have their feelings hurt.”

Hurt feelings? Hardly on top of anyone’s list of concerns, yet the press corps has also been hoist by their own petard, sensing the ingratitude of the White House after these guys functioned as the President’s own personal PR firm lo these many months.

In contrast, however, O’Connor points out that it was a “good year for the queen”, Hillary:

• The last minute save of the Turkish-Armenian accords opening the borders between these two longtime enemies.

• Bill Clinton’s dramatic feel-good rescue of the two female reporters held hostage in North Korea

• Clinton being named No. 4 of the 25 “smartest people” of the decade by the political blog The Daily Beast: “If anyone has a more intellectually rigorous resume for the decade, we have yet to see it.” High praise.

• A flattering article about Clinton in the December issue of Vogue magazine, complete with photos by the legendary Annie Liebowitz.

• Clinton’s approval rating in the high 60-percentile while Obama’s flirts under 50.

• The near “irrelevance” of those special envoys Mitchell and Holbrooke. They have been sidelined or mired in diplomatic quicksand.

• The success in adoption of her preferred Afghan strategy — and in securing NATO troop support over the expected 5,000 offered. (Something Clinton lectured Obama about in a primary debate: never get on the plane unless the deal has already been done.)

I think the crème is rising to the top. But while O’Connor’s article is entertaining, I don’t see vengeance here, unless stepping up and doing one’s job can be seen as vengeful. I suppose one could make an argument that by continuing to work diligently and faithfully, Hillary is “plotting” to show up her boss. I think one of the few adults in the room has better things to do. But I can’t say I’m not enjoying watching the dominoes fall – all those who badmouthed her are now finding themselves on the receiving end of a big dose of their own medicine.

The list is growing.

Putting a twist on this coverage model, it appears as if Senator Chris Dodd has a problem. Aside from pure partisan politics in the midst of an economic tsunami, Dodd’s personal relationships with many financial companies has run its course. I do not mean to say that Dodd and these individuals may not maintain an ongoing relationship, but the fact is a number of financial firms which supported Dodd over the years are either bankrupt, merged, or wards of the state. (Freddie, Fannie, AIG, Citi)

Bloomberg reports:

The Democrat has less than half the campaign cash he had at a comparable point in his last re-election bid, when he faced far fewer hurdles. Last year, he emptied an account built up largely through financial-company employees’ donations to pay for a presidential run; now, he has to replenish his coffers even as the firms his panel regulates struggle with losses and back away from their one-time champion turned critic.

How does a career politician go about learning some new tricks after 30 plus years of feeding at the same trough? Let’s see where things stand currently in Dodd’s campaign coffers.

Dodd began the year with $670,654 on hand; by contrast, he had about $1.6 million at the same point in his last Senate race. He ended up spending $5.7 million for his 2004 election after raising a total of $7.1 million, according to the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics.

Additionally, Dodd will not be able to placate these financial firms as he will be forced to play the populist card in his campaign.

Perhaps Senator Dodd should have done what any quality salesperson does: broaden his product knowledge, diversify the client base, and work a little harder for the rank in file as opposed to playing the political games with management. A previous piece I wrote, How Wall Street Bought Washington, deals with this topic. Now Bloomberg reports Dodd’s AIG Ties, Cash Shortage Threaten Re-Election Bid.

LD

The first round winners were determined by your votes and revealed last night on the Nocturnal Warrior Show on No Quarter Radio. You can listen to that here. We did a review of last night’s so-called press conference followed by the tournament results. The show includes the scores, a review of the next round matchups and all sorts of commentary that we just can’t fit here.

Remember, your votes determine the winners. We are asking you to look at each matchup and determine for yourself who is the bigger ass in each matchup (We are not asking who has the biggest ass, although that may have helped Oprah and Donna Brazile in round one). Without further ado here we go:

ROUND TWO

White House Bracket

6th Seed Rahm Emanuel vs. 3rd Seed Dick Cheney

Capitol Hill Bracket

Media Bracket

At-Large Bracket

There you have it. Just use the polls as set up at No Quarter to determine your votes. The Polls will be open until midnight Friday. This weekend, we will reveal the “Sweet Sixteen,” and open up the voting. The “Sweet Sixteen” winners will be announced on next Tuesday night’s Nocturnal Warrior Show where we will break down the Elite Eight.

Feel free to add your comments about the matchups below. The key is to have as much fun with this as possible!

No kidding. You can’ make this shit up. Apparently, in the future, we won’t recognize who they are. Let’s call it the Wall Street rendition of the witness protection program.

NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) – Workmen rolled up their sleeves at American International Group Inc (AIG.N) this weekend to take down the most prominent sign at the downtown Manhattan offices of the embattled insurer that has become the scorn of America.

A spokesman said the company had decided to replace the large AIG sign — outside the entrance to its property-casualty offices — as part of its plan to change that operation’s name to AIU Holdings Ltd.

The move is designed to “distinguish these well-capitalized businesses from AIG,” said a second spokesman.

In what is probably the closest thing to a truthful remark from AIG’s AIU’s Fed-Selected CEO we have heard in a month, the man finally admitted what a thieving, morally-bankrupt sack of crap this company truly is.

“I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we’re probably going to have to change it,” Liddy told a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee last Wednesday.

Funny, I kind of get the feeling that the move is to Disappear the name “AIG”. I am sure they are all hoping that angry mobs won’t be able to find their thieving asses any longer.

I get the distinct feeling that in the near future, Geithner, Paulson and Bernanke may be borrowing three sets of those groucho glasses. Barring that possibility due to a run on purchases of these props caused by the rest of their Goldman-Sachs and other Wall Street friends, they can always temporarily go for the bag over the head routine until novelty companies restock. The photo above is a custom-made bag earmarked for Chris Dodd, whose wife seems to have had previous employment ties to AIGan AIU-owned business.

From “Dodd’s Wife a Former Director of Bermuda-Based IPC Holdings, an AIG Controlled Company,” Real Clear Politics, March 23, 2009, by Kevin Rennie:

Jackie Clegg Dodd introduces her husband Presidential candidate US Senator Chris Dodd to the Democratic Convention at Skyline High School. Photo by Scott G. Winterton / Deseret Morning News July 14, 2007.

No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG. Dodd has been one of the company’s favorite recipients of campaign contributions. But it turns out that Senator Dodd’s wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well.

From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an “outside” director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG. IPC, which provides property casualty catastrophe insurance coverage, was formed in 1993 and currently has a market cap of $1.4 billion and trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol IPCR. In 2001, in addition to a public offering of 15 million shares of stock that raised $380 million, IPC raised more than $109 million through a simultaneous private placement sale of 5.6 million shares of stock to AIG – giving AIG a 20% stake in IPC. (AIG sold its 13.397 million shares in IPC in August, 2006.)

Clegg was compensated for her duties to the company, which was managed by a subsidiary of AIG. In 2003, according to a proxy statement, Clegg received $12,000 per year and an additional $1,000 for each Directors’ and committee meeting she attended. Clegg served on the Audit and Investment committees during her final year on the board.

IPC paid millions each year to other AIG-related companies for administrative and other services. Clegg was a diligent director. In 2003, the proxy statement report, she attended more than 75% of board and committee meetings. This while she served as the managing partner of Clegg International Consultants, LLC, which she created in 2001, the year she joined the board of IPC. (See Dodd’s public financial disclosure reports with the Senate from 2001-2004 here.)

Dodd is likely more familiar with the complicated workings of AIG than he was letting on last week. … Read all.

Ahem. No doubt he is.

P.S. If, the first time I mention her name, you click on the link, you’ll be treated to an interesting story about Dodd’s long courtship of Jackie, as well as the story of her Utah Valley family’s solid Mormon and Republican roots from the Deseret Morning News newspaper in Utah.

It’s that time of year. If you are one of the lucky Americans still working in an office atmosphere, you probably have been inundated with bracket contests tied to the NCAA Tournament. I love the tournament and watch those games religiously, but here at No Quarter we deal with more serious fare and not everyone is a sports fan. So on Tuesday night’s edition of the Nocturnal Warrior Show on No Quarter Radio, we created a tournament of our own. You can listen to the show here (I highly recommend it; it was one of our better efforts.)

We revealed a field of 64 participants vying for the No Quarter Trophy. Our National Champion will be the person you pick as the Biggest Ass on the American Political Landscape.

We’ve broken the field in four brackets seeded 1 through 16 and have determined the matchups accordingly. All you have to do is tell us who you think is the winner of each matchup.

This will be a round by round affair. You can list your winners in the comment sections here or e-mail them to me at nocturnalwarriorshow@gmail.com. First-round winners will be announced on next Tuesday night’s Nocturnal Warrior Show. Feel free to submit all of your logic for making your picks.

So without further ado, here are the matchups.

White House Bracket
1st Seed Barack Obama vs. 16th Seed Bill Clinton
8th Seed Joe Biden vs. 9th Seed Robert Gibbs
5th Seed George W. Bush vs. 12th Seed Lawrence Summers
4th Seed Timothy Geithner vs. 13th Seed Susan Rice
6th Seed Rahm Emanuel vs. 11th Seed Jimmy Carter
3rd Seed Dick Cheney vs. 14th Seed Colin Powell
7th Seed David Axelrod vs. 10th Seed Eric Holder
2nd Seed Michelle Obama vs. 15th Seed Condoleeza Rice

Capitol Hill Bracket
1st Seed Nancy Pelosi vs. 16th Seed Christopher Dodd
8th Seed Charles Rangel vs. 9th Seed Mitch McConnel
5th Seed Chuck Schumer vs. 12th Seed Claire McCaskill
4th Seed John Boehner vs. 13th Seed Norm Coleman
6th Seed Edward Kennedy vs. 11th Seed Rolan Burris
3rd Seed Barney Frank vs. 14th Seed Eric Cantor
7th Seed Joe Lieberman vs. 10th Seed John Kerry
2nd Seed Harry Reid vs. 15th Seed Larry Craig

Media Bracket
1st Seed Keith Olbermann vs. 16th Seed Katie Couric
8th Seed William Kristol vs. 9th Seed Dick Morris
5th Seed Ann Coulter vs. 12th Laura Ingraham
4th Seed Rachael Maddow vs. 13th Seed Markos Moulitsos
6th Seed David Shuster vs. 11th Seed Ariana Huffington
3rd Seed Maureen Dowd vs. 14th Seed Rush Limbaugh
7th Seed Joe Klein vs. 10th Seed David Broder
2nd Seed Andrew Sullivan vs. 15th Jamal Simmons

At Large Bracket
1st Seed Chris Matthews vs. 16th Eliott Spitzer
8th Seed Rod Blagoevich vs. 9th Seed William Ayers
5th Seed Caroline Kennedy vs. 12th Seed John Edwards
4th Seed Donna Brazile vs. 13th Jeremiah Wright
6th Seed Bill Richardson vs. 11th Seed Michael Steele
3rd Seed Tom Daschle vs. 14th Seed Bobby Jindal
7th Seed Howard Dean vs. 10th Seed Alan Greenspan
2nd Seed Oprah Winfrey vs. 15th Seed Tim Kaine

There, you have it.. Just post up or e-mail us your first round picks and we will pare the field down. Have fun with this!!!

And so now, we have finger pointing between senators and representatives, the Department of the Treasury, and the White House. Do I even need to tell you that the White House is COMPLETELY blameless in this?? Oh, you know Obama is taking ZERO responsibility for the tax payers, many of whom have lost their own jobs, not just paying to keep these companies afloat, but giving them BONUSES!!!

Oh, yes – Obama is just railing away, despite his Chief of Staff actually working on the whole piece that had the bonuses in it. Oh, wait – that was two minutes ago. That story has already changed to make everything, absolutely everything, Chris Dodd’s fault. Except – Oh Wait – now we find out that Tim Geithner, the man who can’t even be bothered to download Freakin’ TURBO TAX, has admitted that Dodd was ASKED to put in this little loophole. By the Treasury Department. Oops!

So, um, Chris – how happy are you now that you threw your support to Obama?!?! Hahahahahaha! I mean, karma’s a bitch, ain’t it??

Anywho – the whole issue is discussed fully in the video below (H/T to SusanUnPC for the heads up on the video, and Cheneywatch for the video). Pay special attention to Charles Krauthammer:

Well, I gotta say, I think he makes a pretty good point, and not just because he talks about my team, the New York Yankees! Anyway – yes, in the scheme of things, it is not that much money. But I think what bugs people about it all, besides it being OUR taxpaying dollars, is the hubris of it all.

More importantly, though, is the manner in which the Democrats went about this. They have forgotten that when they are solely in power, they will solely take the blame, too. Rightly so, in this case, I think we can agree. Pelosi crafted this pork-laden stimulus bill, any number of top Democrats, they rammed it through, claiming all kinds of horrors would befall us if they didn’t, then Obama sat on it for a couple of days so he could finish up his SECOND vacation (he’s now on his third – in two months), then jet off to Denver to sign it. Yes, I can see why it was so important for them to use fear mongering tactics, then sit back and relax. And apparently, even THEN, no one bothered to read the damn thing. So we get loopholes like the one Dodd, or Emanuel, or Pelosi, or Reid, or Geithner, or WHOEVER the hell it really was, to allow bonuses for people at AIG. That kind of thing just doesn’t sit very well with a lot of people. Still, it is, as Krauthammer was implying, a smokescreen for the BIGGER issues at hand, at which we should be looking, and that is the proposed Budget, the Economy, and the billions in earmark projects for which we are paying.

Well, wait – let me ask you, in this completely scientific way: Are YOU mad that your money is going to pay these other people’s bonuses, especially at a company that you have already given around $173 BILLION dollars? Yes? Well, David Axelrod doesn’t think you are. I am not kidding. That is his latest message: that the American people don’t give a crap about stuff like this. Greg Sargent had this at The Plum:

Come on, guys, can’t we get the message straight on this one?

Yesterday I noted that Rahm Emanuel had said that Obama saw the AIG fiasco as a “big distraction” from efforts to fix the economy. Later in the day, Obama walked that back, asserting that the public was right to be “angry” about the whole mess and right to find it “consuming.”

Today, another senior Obama adviser, David Axelrod, is throwing in his lot with Rahm and the AIG-isn’t-a-huge-deal camp:

“People are not sitting around their kitchen tables thinking about AIG,” Axelrod said. “They are thinking about their own jobs.”

So are people upset about this, or aren’t they? Actually, people are thinking about the AIG disaster. Yesterday’s Gallup poll found that a big majority is very upset about it. Only 11% said they are “not particularly bothered” by it.

Again, this just seems weird politically. Why pretend that folks aren’t pissed off about this at a time when Republicans are moving aggressively to paint Obama as too passive on the issue and position themselves as the outraged and heroic defenders of the taxpapers?

Update: David Kurtz says: “I honestly don’t get what up-side they see politically in taking this tack.” He suggests that it’s “tone deaf.” Agreed on both counts.

I agree on both counts, too, in case you are keeping score.

Has it really only been two months of this guy? Good grief. I wonder who’s going to have to take the fall for Obama next? Hmmm, maybe that new pup the girls are getting (and so much for the whole shelter dog thing – I think we all knew that was just words, too)…

Honestly, I’m getting motion sickness from all of this…

(FROM LARRY JOHNSON–This is big trouble for Dodd and Timmy Geithner. Geithner lied as well about his role in this fiasco. You cannot have a liar at the top of Treasury and hope to be taken seriously.)

Larry Johnson called me and told me he’d seen this video of Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) admitting that he secretly fixed the bill, taking out amendment language (written by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)) that would have prevented bonuses in excess of $100,000. From CNN’s story:

– After denying having anything to do with crafting language in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses, Sen. Christopher Dodd admitted that he and the Treasury Department were responsible for the loophole. … Read all.

Yesterday, the Liar-Pants-On-Fire hemmed and hawed like this:

This is the Chris Dodd of yesterday, which I had titled in the drafts as:

Government is buying you off.

If anyone is going to raise an angry mob, and scream *off with their heads!* at anyone, it is the American people on Washington. The fault lies with Washington. Those who granted the bailouts, those who wrote the loopholes for those bonuses, those who didn’t monitor what was happening with the bailout money, and those who claimed to know what was happening with the money, and granted even more bailout money. Watch this video.

That’s not to say there aren’t some at AIG guilty of mismanagement, or that some big wigs worked with the Treasury Department to ensure those bonuses remained. They have some responsibility in this financial mess, but we elect Congress, and the President, to spend our money wisely. They failed. They lied. And they are trying to cover it up, and create distractions.

Mob rule in Washington.

The bad guys aren’t those at AIG. The bad guys are in Washington. They are lying, covering up, and creating distractions (see my post obama hypocrisy watch). They are either the most corrupt or the most stupid people, ever.

Case in point – this little tidbit of Breaking News!

At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. John Lewis, chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, said two firms owe more than $100 million apiece.

Banks and other firms receiving federal money were required to sign contracts stating they had no unpaid taxes, Lewis said. But he said the Treasury Department did not ask them to turn over their tax records.

Washington is granting all these bailouts, with tax payer’s money, and these companies owe MILLIONS in back taxes. Stop the insanity!!!

Here is a bonus video, which touches on some of what I wrote about the other day, in my piece president bamboozler.

For Obama it’s politics over principle.

March 16, Tapper went after Gibbs on what the Obama admin knew, and when they knew it.

“TAPPER: You guys first found about these bonuses last week?

GIBBS: I think that’s true, based on what I read in the newspaper.”

March 17, Tapper reported that WH officials knew about the bonuses two weeks ago.

“It wasn’t until Thursday, March 5, 2009, administration sources told ABC News, that officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York informed officials of the Treasury Department of the full extent of the $165 million in bonuses pending for the controversial Financial Products Subsidiary.

This was three days after the Obama administration had already announced a new commitment of an additional $30 billion for AIG.”

And March 16, Tapper reported: White House Says It’s Confident It Knows What Happened to Previous AIG Billions

“From White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ briefing two weeks ago, when $30 billion in additional funds were announced for AIG. AIG had at this point designated $165 million in retention bonuses for officers of the Financial Products subsidiary, as well as an additional $121.5 million in executive bonuses.”

Salon.com reports that the WH is trying to make Dodd the fall guy. The dishonest “Blame Dodd” scheme from Treasury officials

“It was Obama officials, not Dodd, who demanded that already-vested bonus payments be exempted.”

FOX just reported, “Dodd’s original amendment did not include that exemption, and the Connecticut Senator denied inserting the provision.

“I can’t point a finger at someone who was responsible for putting those dates in,” Dodd told FOX. “I can tell you this much, when my language left the senate, it did not include it. When it came back, it did.”

“Because of negotiations with the Treasury Department and the bill Conferees, several modifications were made,” Dodd Spokesperson Kate Szostak in a response to FOX Business.

There is a lot of finger pointing, covering up, and faux outrage being thrown around. But one thing seems obvious. This is yet another instance, where Dodd and Obama were top recipients of donations from companies that caused major financial problems for America. Coincidence?

So, what’s a new President to do, when he finds himself in hot water, and completely in over his head, facing dropping poll numbers, and a growing number of outraged Americans?

Appear on Jay Leno, of course.

UPDATE: Surprise, surprise surprise…Dodd admits he did insert the loophole to protect bonuses. But Obama made him do it!!

Don’t miss these other NQ stories:
AIG Contracts a Brain Freeze
White House Panics at the Mob Marching on AIG
Just The Facts, Barack
Top Ten Reasons Obama is Appearing on Jay Leno