NYT Hits Dodd For Not Doing What He Is Doing

by: tparty

Wed Jun 10, 2009 at 13:47:50 PM EDT

The Times' primary criticism of Dodd is based on a huge omission:

That bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, caps interest rates on consumer loans at 36 percent. That's the reasonable limit that Congress placed on loans to members of the armed forces.

It should apply to all American families. Mr. Dodd, who was recently praised after Congress passed a bill limiting abuses by credit-card companies, should follow the same crusading impulse to go after the egregious exploitation of payday loans.

That is indeed very good advice. It's a shame that the Times didn't bother to report that Chris Dodd is already following it by (as of yesterday) co-sponsoring the very legislation that they are urging him to support in the editorial.

As both Chair of the Banking Committee and a  vulnerable incumbent up for re-election, Dodd will continue to be a huge target for those looking to influence politics and/or policy on all sides, and sorting through competing arguments and knocking down spurious claims is apparently going to be a challenge for a traditional media still largely uninterested in doing that type of real work. But at the very least, Dodd deserves accurate reporting and praise when he does the right thing, even if that means re-writing an editorial before it goes to press - or printing a correction after it does.