On Day 175 of Dodd Watch, our senior Senator is in Washington hearing testimony from the Chief Executive Officers of Detroit’s Big Three – GM, Ford, and Chrysler – about the possibility of a multi-billion dollar bailout.  Dodd was eager to hand out federal cash to the banks that funded his campaigns and gave him a pair of sweet mortgage deals, and it appears he is happy to do it again for the auto makers. 

The reason?  Well, he went along with $700,000,000,000.00 for his Wall Street buddies, and Detroit has made a better case than they did.  This marks another nadir in the Dodd saga, as now the standard for federal bailouts in Dodd-World is defined as basically wide open.

With Senator Dodd continuing to do what he does, there is a growing grassroots movement to end Dodd’s run as Connecticut’s U.S. Senator.  A new blog on the scene in recent weeks, cleverly titled The Artful Doddger, has pressed Senator Dodd’s mortgage dealings, his too cozy relationships with Wall Street, and the auto maker handouts.  A sampling of yesterday’s post on the auto hearings:

I mean, I don’t think unions are evil, but a number of “foreign” auto companies have successful factories staffed with non-union workers here in the US while the big 3 are crashing faster than Amy Winehouse after a night out.

Chris Dodd can twitter all he wants, but the people are quickly picking up the call for Dodd’s departure.  Whether that exit be inspired by the Department of Justice, a censure from the U.S. Senate, or electoral defeat, the change would do the Land of Steady Habits some good.