Chris Dodd is #1! (UPDATED with video of Dodd, himself)

Senator Chris Dodd tops the list of AIG campaign contribution recipients for 2008. Amid the faux rage of Congress over the AIG bonuses, the obvious question is whether or not the folks below will return the money.

1. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., $103,100
2. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., $101,332
3. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., $59,499
4. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., $35,965
5. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., $24,750
6. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, (R) Pres $20,850
7. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., $19,975
8. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, $19,750
9. Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., $18,500
10. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R) Pres $13,200
11. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., $12,000
12. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., $11,000


In other news today, people are scratching their heads and wondering how it is that AIG was allowed these bonuses in the first place.

But though some lawmakers did move to prevent bonuses in the stimulus bill last month, the final language actually makes an exception for pre-existing contracts, effectively exempting AIG.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, who originally proposed the executive compensation provision, said he did not include the exemption clause, which said new rules "shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009."

In an interview with CNN, Dodd denied inserting that exemption at the 11th hour, and insisted he doesn't know how it got there.

"When I wrote the language there was no such language like that," Dodd told CNN Tuesday.

So….. there are only two ways to play this. At worst, Dodd is a bald-faced liar who did indeed write that language to protect a significant campaign benefactor. At best, he was asleep at the wheel on a section of porkulus for which he was responsible. Additionally, this speaks to just how hurried, rushed, haphazard and just what a “cram-down” the fashioning of porkulus was.

It’s either one or the other. And either way, if Dodd had a shred of decency about him, he would step down from chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee. Of course, he doesn't, so he won't.

We remain incredulous that news item after news item quotes Dodd fulminating on the banking and housing crisis as some sort of paragon of wisdom and integrity without even a hint of irony.

UPDATE #1: Thanks to commenter, Pro, we’ve liberated a link to a site that has a nice wrap-up of everything AIG bonuses-related and where we discovered the video below of none other than Chris Dodd.

Bumper sticker version in case you don’t have the time nor the stamina to watch the whole thing: Everybody kind of knew about the bonuses a while back and everyone kind of knew they would get their pants sued-off by AIG if they did anything to prevent the bonuses so everyone just kind of allowed the bonus exemption language into the porkulus bill.

One could almost see Rahm Emmanuel, though, whispering to the President: “Boss, this is perfect. While the Treasury prints another $1 trillion it doesn’t have we can use this next “crisis” to express our outrage to the American people over these AIG fat cats.”

How’s that working for ya, Rahm?

Embed no worky - please click here for video.