Countywide

How is it not a bigger scandal that the leading sponsor of the Senate mortgage bailout bill, whose chief beneficary will be Countrywide Financial, received a sweetheart loan from Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo?

Yep -- the leading Senate sponsor of the bill up this week is none other than... Chris Dodd.

The Foundry explains the issue:

We have been calling Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) housing bailout bill “The Wall Street Bailout Enhancement Act” for over a month now. In particular, we have singled out Countrywide Financial as the bank with most to gain from the federal government’s generosity. Countrywide is the largest loan servicer in the nation. It has been accused by bankruptcy judges of using dubious tactics to issue mortgages to unqualified borrowers, and has been at the center of the nation’s still-unfolding mortgage crisis. In the last three quarters, Countrywide has lost $2.5 billion, and has $6 billion in nonperforming assets.

This is very good, but why has most of the coverage of Dodd's sweetheart loan focused on the loan itself rather than the toxic combination of the loan and his sponsorship of the Countywide Bailout Act of 2008? It a Republican Senator did this, this would be all over TPM, Think Progress, and Memeorandum, and that Senator would be afraid to leave to his or her house.

Quid. Pro. Quo.