McMasterstroke

Pro wrestling fans know what a ruthless, win-at-all-costs bastard Linda McMahon's husband is.  You don't suppose Vince is bringing "Mr. McMahon's" brass-knuckle tactics to the political squared circle, do ya?

-Me, 5/17/10

Relying upon Christopher Dodd to serve as a judge of personal honor is like hiring Cheech & Chong to run the Betty Ford Clinic.  There's a reason why Senator Countrywide was run out of his re-election race on a rail, after all: more than half of Connecticutters thought he was an f'ing liar.  And that's because he is.  Didn't either of these bosom buddies ever hear the old Gorilla Monsoon catch-phrase, "One lies and the other one swears to it?"  Besides which, does Hanoi Dick really want to link himself more securely in this cycle with one of the prime architects of the Democrat Financial Logic Bomb that laid waste to the U.S. economy and stole the 2008 election for the Dems at the same time, one of the most infamous "two-fers" in American history?  I'd have gotten a restraining order on Ted Kennedy's carousing buddy, personally.

-Me, 5/18/10

Check and mate, Blumie:

This is absolutely brilliant.  You can see it all laid out from day one: Kicking off the general campaign by oppo-researching "Hanoi Dick's" years and years of outright lies about having served in Vietnam when in fact he never went anywhere near it and getting the New York Times to blow it sky-high.  Exposing his raking in of almost half a million bucks in PAC money after having boasted that he hadn't taken a dime from "special interests".  Then a reminder of Blumie's 'Nam fantasies on the day of their first debate where she humiliated him with his utter ignorance of private sector job creation.

And now, ten days before Election Day and with the long baseline of Dick Blumenthal's serial mendacities firmly established, Linda goes for the finisher by revealing him as, if not Countrywide Dodd's righthand man, then certainly cut from the exact same corrupt cloth:

The McMahon campaign found Blumenthal’s connection to Countrywide by “sifting through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s files,” according to National Review, finding a $3 million Blumenthal investment in the Blue Ridge Limited Partnership.  Blue Ridge took a significant interest in PennyMac, a fund formed by former Countrywide executives to purchase and restructure some distressed Countrywide loans to turn them towards profitability....

Did the settlement actually do what Blumenthal claims?  The cost of a good portion of the settlement wound up being paid by taxpayers after all.

Try over half of it, or $4.5 million.  After Blumie said it wouldn't cost taxpayers a plug nickle, and he profited handsomely besides.  Just like the "white collar crooks" he's made his political reputation persecuting.

I don't think it an exaggeration to say that Linda McMahon has run a flawless center-right campaign in a state bluer than a set of varicose veins.  If this Countrywide knockout doesn't finish off "Hanoi Dick," nothing will.

But something very much like it last winter caused Dodd's fatal collapse.  All Linda needs is another six points.

Speaking of corrupt bankers, Red Barry's FDIC is going to wait until after the election to formally air Gia-pet's role in criminal lending activities at, and bringing about the collapse of, his family's bank, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.  Hard to say what that White House in-kind contribution is worth, but when Mark Kirk finishes off the Mob bagman a week from next Tuesday, at least Chairman Issa's already daunting investigatory workload won't get any heftier than it already is.