It is amazing to watch the liberals and their friends in the media work. When the word went around the Georgetown cocktail circuit that Sen. Chris Dodd was in seriously trouble back in Connecticut, you could almost see Sally Quinn covering her mouth and yelping, “Oh no, not Christy, We can’t have that!”

All hands were summoned to come to the aid of Ted Kennedy’s first officer.  Anyone and everyone has been put on the Sen. Chris Dodd rehabilitation project. It started with Dodd being placed center stage in every bill signing featuring the Big O and then running expensive prime time television spots to memorialize the moment.  Then, as Gail Collins pointed out in her New York Times op-ed column, Dodd has been given credit for everything but a new serum for swine flu.  Last week, it was a puff piece in Newsweek offered by another member of the Quinn salon – Even Thomas – who told us Dodd tends to the sick and weak and wears the hair shirt morning, noon and night.

But Friday there was no getting around the fact that Sen. Dodd has been caught doing what the U.S. Justice Department spent a small fortune trying to prove against U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-AK – that is getting a huge gift and not reporting it. Stevens, the cranky lawmaker, had allowed lobbyists and others to $250,000 on repairs to his home while stocking the wine locker and making things a little more comfortable for the Stevens family. Thanks to Ironman of The Next Right Thing for spotting the parallel. 

Stevens was convicted in a case where the tactics of the prosecutors were called into question. Even though new Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the case, it had it’s effect. Stevens narrowly lost reelection. But the facts of the case were without question and Stevens was roundly skewered for taking the goods without remorse.

In Sen. Dodd’s case, he was given a mulligan, by ”correcting” the actual value of his Irish cottage on the lonely island of Inish hee from $190,000 to $678,000. The property lies just off the coast of Ireland in Galway Bay.  The question comes down to this how was Sen. Dodd able to plunk down an initial investment of $12,000, then buy out his partner, William “Bucky” Kessenger, with $167,000 a few years later and then list the property at considerably lower than any reasonable market would demand?

Easy, Chris Dodd is a Senator and he thought no one would know, care or bother to figure it out and ask pesky questions. It was a gift. A huge gift and now it becomes similar to the Steven’s scenario. How could Dodd allow that to happen? Doesn’t he know there are potentially taxes to be paid on that – even after you get past the Ethics dilemma of it being illegal under the Senate rules? Details, details, as they say.

When you take into account the Irish real estate market was white hot in the six years ago, it is more than reasonable to assume the property was worth even more – maybe in the $850,000 to $1,000,000 range. Let’s see, that’s three homes, one salary, no savings,  oh – we forgot, how about the easy money from the corporate boards that Mrs. Dodd sits on? That’s right – maybe that is how the Dodd’s swung it. What timing.

But it doesn’t matter to the big media. They like Chris Dodd. They like his politics and have liked it. He opposed the Contra’s. He opposed tax cuts. He spent freely on social programs, embranced Fidel Castro, dated Bianca Jagger and even took Barbara Streisand to the casino one night for some cards.

Gail Collins offers this explanation on why American needs Chris Dodd:

“He (Dodd) resisted the siren call of Republican tax cuts in the Reagan and Bush administration. He was a persistent champion of quality early child care — an issue whose importance is matched only by its complete and total lack of vote-getting or donation-collecting potential. He authored the Family and Medical Leave Act. And he developed a close working relationship with his ailing friend Ted Kennedy, who designated Dodd as his surrogate on the health care legislation. In Kennedy’s absence, there is really no other Democrat in the Senate with so much ability to reach across the aisle and negotiate with Republicans while still keeping his eyes on the prize. “

So, if he caught a break, heh, he’s a the only guy who can reach over to other side and pass a government run health care plan. Do we know how lucky we are to have him there!

Sen. Dodd’s former co-owner of the Irish property, Kessenger, didn’t know Dodd from Adam, until Ed Downe put them together. Downe was a fraternity brother of Kessenger and business partner. Downe pursudaded Kesssenger to buy two thirds of the cottage with Dodd, so the former could see Ireland. Downe was the man who got a Presidential pardon from Bill Clinton in the waning days of that taudry administration. Chris Dodd handled the paperwork personally and lobbied soft-hearted Bill. Downe is a member of the board of the Thomas Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut. See how all of this fits?

It is no wonder that when anything good happens in Connecticut or in Washington, Sen. Chris Dodd fought for it and we keep fighting for us.

He must be punched out by now.