The Dodds of Connecticut

Maureen Dowd writes a thin, somewhat fawning column/interview of former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, who as the new head of the Motion Picture Association of America has become Washington's top lobbyist. She & Dodd take a trip down memory lane, as Dodd relates anecdotes from the old days. He mentions his father, who was also a Connecticut Senator. The moderators scrapped my comment, so here it is, somewhat modified to say what I really think:

Chris Dodd, learning ethics on his father's knee. Undated photo.Since Chris Dodd is so fond of telling old stories & of complimenting his new bosses on their ability to do the same, here's one about Dodd's father, Sen. Thomas Dodd.

My great aunts lived on the first floor of a modest two-flat on Triangle Street in West Hartford. On the upper floor lived a couple with a beautiful young daughter. When she became of marriageable age, she took up with young Tom Dodd, who had just matriculated at Yale Law. Tom was on a tight budget. Every evening my aunts would see Tom going up the steps to have dinner with the fiancee and her parents. Those hearty meals, freely given by the folks upstairs, sure helped their future son-in-law get through law school.

Upon being graduated from Yale Law, Tom went to work for the FBI where his biggest case was an unsuccessful attempt to capture gangster John Dillinger. Oh, and he met a young woman from a wealthy family. So Agent Tom left the girl upstairs -- and her accommodating parents -- and married the socialite, who was to be Chris Dodd's mother. My aunts were Democrats, but they never voted for Tom Dodd. They said he was too untrustworthy.

Chris Dodd also left the Senate under a cloud. As Dowd mentions evah so briefly, "In trouble with Connecticut voters for taking a V.I.P. home mortgage from Countrywide Financial, he didn’t seek re-election." The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

P.S. I notice at the bottom of Dowd's column is an announcement that "Thomas L. Friedman is off today." While I'll warrant Friedman is often "off," he must not have got the memo, because not only did he write a column for today's paper, it is a darned good one.