Tax the hell out of these bonuses. It can't possibly be hard to pass that bill right now, and as an added 'bonus' (because the Constitution bans bills of attainder), the bonuses paid to all the other scumbag executives will be taxed at the same rate.

and the Obama administration will have collapsed from within. Crisis by September.

When the Reagan/Buah/Bush administrations did such dissemination, at least they closed ranks and only pointed fingers at Democrats or disloyal Republicans. I'm disappointed that the Obama administration's "change" is to rip apart the Democratic party.

Oh, and I'm not happy with the finger pointing either. Man up, guys. Show you're better than the Bushies and deal with the situation and don't worry so much about the spin.

Just another f'ing liar!

They're a couple of foxes in charge of this henhouse and are showing a complete lack of integrity on this issue. What little confidence I ever had in Geithner is evaporating each time something like this happens.

@ LondonLad - Wishful thinking by trolls like you won't make it so. STFU.

"Man up, guys. Show you're better than the Bushies"

But they are not any better. They are just the weak tea version of what went before. Alfred E Obama wearing a flag pin says it all.

Hope Dodd hits back demanding that the SOB produces his long form birth certificate.

Glenn Greenwald seems to expect the impossible from journalists. Not only are they supposed to research current stories — collating press releases, attending press conferences, working out all the citations for other people's stories that they're quoting — but now they're supposed to research past stories too?

What does Greenwald think, that newspaper offices have some sort of vast collection of prior editions that reporters could just somehow peruse before they ran their new article? Does he envision some kind of enormous science-fiction computer system that lets you just go searching around and comparing current claims with past stories?

And what's going to happen when your reporter discovers that, sure, okay, maybe today's press release contains assertions that aren't 100% perfectly in accord with historical documented facts. (Like anyone is perfect.) Is this poor reporter going to just call up the source and ask them adversarial questions? You can't just go around suggesting that people are liars — especially someone who's famous and powerful.

I can't imagine how awful it would be for these poor elected officials to be interrogated like that — confrontation, pestering questions, being mistrusted... worse treatment at the hands of interrogators can scarcely be conceived.

"@ LondonLad - Wishful thinking by trolls like you won't make it so. STFU."

I'm not a Republican supporter and I hate the neocons. So "wishful thinking" doesn't come into it.

By September if not before this admin will have collapsed from within. Its simple to see this. The Dems are carrying out Repug policies. That's why it will collapse.

"What does Greenwald think, that newspaper offices have some sort of vast collection of prior editions that reporters could just somehow peruse before they ran their new article? Does he envision some kind of enormous science-fiction computer system that lets you just go searching around and comparing current claims with past stories?"

No. All they would have to have is access to a bog standard lap top like my own.

The NYT/AP folks are just batting them all over the place today - too bad they are all really foul balls. For your Freudian banana peel of the day:

Bush said he wants Obama to succeed and said it's important that he has that support. Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has said he hoped Obama would fail.

''I love my country a lot more than I love politics,'' Bush said. ''I think it is essential that he be helped in office.''

Bush said that he doesn't know what he will do in the long term but that he will write a book that will ask people to consider what they would do if they had to protect the United State as president.

He said it will be fun to write and that ''it's going to be (about) the 12 toughest decisions I had to make.''

''I'm going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there's an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened,'' Bush said.

Authoritarian, authoritative, whatever....

See, Glenn? That's why Obama's guys are going after Dodd and the progressives. Bush is helping the new dictator guy rewrite history. Obama is the first of the twelve.... ;^}

Mika Brzezinski, hosting "Hardball," while Chris Matthews celebrates St. Paddy's day somewhere, asked Senator Robert Menendez, "Why didn't anyone question AIG a year ago, when the subject of bonuses came up."

I was truly hoping Sen Menendez was prepared to counter with the question "where were you when it came time to report about it a year ago?" instead, he limply avoided a confrontation and allowed the press to continue their mindless meandering.

I can't wait until a major network goes out of business and puts some of these clowns out of a job.

Obama should demand AIG repay the government the money Bush & Paulson gave to AIG in Sept. If they can afford to pay bonuses they don't need a tax payer bail out. I read on Huffington those who got bonuses no longer work at AIG, so isn't their retainment argument invalid.

Are Democrats really undermining Dodd's. I suspect it's a right wing ploy to get Dodd's seat.

You have outdone yourself, yet again. This is what I crave - real journalism that seeks to get to the bottom of issues, rather than mindlessly accepting rumors and speculation. The key is that you give us the tools and support to question and probe ourselves so we don't just mindlessly follow you. This is precisely why my MSM boycott will continue indefinitely. I simply did not know that the Dodd story was false. Thanks.

'I give the six months

and the Obama administration will have collapsed from within. Crisis by September."

-- LondonLad

This sound like right wing republican wishful thinking to me.

Where's is your all American patriotic spirit.