Speaking of boomer-era flashbacks, Glenn Reynolds dubs this “Chris Dodd’s Modified Limited Hangout”; Mark Tapscott writes that “There are two kinds of journalists in the world”:
those who have been been given the idiot’s treatment by public officials on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for public documents, and those who will be.
Believe me, I know because I didn’t get inducted into the Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame for nothing (no, really, I am not making that up. Go here if you think only liberals get such honors.).
Now Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen, Chris Dodd, D-CN, has pulled what has to be an all-time classic evasion stunt against journalists covering Congress and the economic crisis concerning his promise six months ago to make public all of the documents about his sweetheart loan deal with Countrywide Mortgage.
Dodd invited a select few Connecticut reporters to his office in Hartford Monday and gave them a few minutes to view – but not copy – a small selection of documents that he claims proves he did nothing wrong in accepting special treatment from Countrywide that saved him a reported $75,000 in refinancing a couple of loans worth a total of $800,000. The Wall Street Journal called it Dodd’s “Peek-A-Boo Disclosure.”
How will Beltway journalists respond? Tapscott predicts that they’ll happily play along:
My guess is that they will do nothing because Dodd is a Democrat and he will be protected just as they have protected House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Clinton administration officials like former OMB Director Franklin Raines, and the many Democrat donors and operators like Mozilo who made millions through their associations with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They forced lenders to lend billions to unqualified buyers, shielded the process from public exposure and accountability and then cried “Wall Street greed” when their Ponzi scheme exploded and the economy tanked.
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