It's sad that Merkeley would associate himself with a politician as corrupt as Dodd.

Well, I'm a Democrat, and I think Dodd and Schumer are an embarrassment to the party. They're the two key Senators who were in a position to do something about the financial abuses in their states, and they did nothing (one could assume because of the contributions they were receiving). I'd call that corruption.

Kari, evidently you know what's on Fox News, so you tell me...I don't watch it. And I don't hide my head in the sand about Dodd.

Kari, I liked Christopher Dodd when I met him in the foyer of a Portland hotel many years ago. He stopped to chat for a short time, and had a booming voice and was wearing a cheerful multi-colored sweater. I've also enjoyed his appearances on the Don Imus show. He's funny, and clearly had an adventurous past before settling down. Imus loved reminding him of that. So I'm somewhat of a fan, but I can't believe you'd take one of the big political stories of a senator being investigated for corruption from the past year, and act like you don't know what this commenter is talking about. Take it over to Fox News? This has been all over the news and I'd be shocked if you didn't know that. CBS has a couple of the main stories for starters. It's also been included in the Michael Moore movie - not exactly a Fox News type. If you still need more to jog your memory, enter "dodd sweetheart deal." That'll give you a place to start. I know the Senate Ethics committee cleared him, but it turns out a lot of voters in his home state were unimpressed by that. I certainly wouldn't fault someone who suspected he was corrupt, especially after some other credibility problems as with the AIG thing. I'm not talking about brazen, low-class corruption here. Just the kind that slowly oozes into long-term senators' lives as they sink slowly down into the swamp that is Washington, D.C.

 Too often we get into an area where the politicians say, "If I was getting financial favors, I wasn't aware of them." I didn't buy it from Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska and I have my doubts here. This bit of knowing you're on a VIP list but not knowing you got any special treatment is a little difficult to reconcile with our unfortunate cynical sides.

Isn't the whole point of being a VIP, to get the VIP treatment? And Countrywide certainly had every incentive to keep this key senator happy.

   Acting like this is some new crazy notion by one commenter just makes you look uninformed. We're way past the "cite and source your allegations" stage here.

The end of that sounded encouraging. Would be easier to swallow if he didn't start out paying his respects to the former Senator Peckerwood. Peckerwood is everything the Congress must not do on this. Didn't exactly underscore the message.

Kudos to Kari for bringing this video to the web. It's always great to highlight when pols visit Oregon, and the news media fails to cover the story.

Brickbats to Kari for inserting head into sand and ignoring the Dodd controversy over his sweetheart deals - not only with Countrywide, but also his holdings in Ireland. Bill McDonald illustrates the story quite well in his post, and there are pages of info EVERYWHERE. Sure, innocent until proven guilty. And don't forget that the current majority has promised the most ethical Congress ever.

More ethical than before does not necessarily mean actually being ethical. We sure could use some "leading by example" from our Congressmen and Senators rather than rhetoric and cheap talk.

Sen. Dodd is in the hot seat. He faces an uphill election in Conn. where he is behind in polling with the GOP opponent. At the same time he is a negotiator with the Senate version of the Health Care bill, and has prime responsibility in the banking committee for the financial regulation bill coming forth. If he produces a health care bill without an acceptable form of the public option, and fails on financial regulation, he is finished, done, toast. The party activists will assist in his demise.

Here is the liberal left disease, something as simple as holding your own responsible. At least Lars takes his own to task when they screw up, while you are willing to take a pass. I have a countrywide loan, unlike Dodd, whose was forgiven. That mean you are corrupt also Kari. BIG SURPRISE.... What is so hard about being honest? Your folks must be proud.

I am curious if any of the Dodd haters actually watched the speech.

I have to admit I don't know all the ins-and-outs of the controversy of his personal loan, however I do know that he is a champion of both health care reform (including a public option) and financial reform.

As a senior Democratic senator he is well positioned to make it happen and if you watch the speech you would know he is right on the issues. Frankly, that is all I care about.

omg its really sad which people are in our government. John Dodd lost not for free his presidantalchoice in 2008. But i hope that he can find a new way and a bigger success in 2009. every one has deserved a second chance. Lars