THE LOS ANGELES TIMES ON Chris Dodd’s poor personal decisions. “Far more troubling was Dodd’s relationship with mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, which appears to have given him a sweetheart deal on a pair of loans under a VIP program called “Friends of Angelo,” named for former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Though Dodd was cleared of wrongdoing by the Senate Ethics Committee, he should have known better than to accept special terms from a company whose regulation he oversaw. And then there was Dodd’s cottage in Ireland.”

UPDATE: A reader notes that the L.A. Times waited until Dodd withdrew and the seat looked safe for the Dems to level this criticism. I think that’s right — at least, I don’t remember any LAT editorials condemning Dodd earlier. Did I miss something?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Kevin Murphy notes:

The LA Times editorial ends, however, with an incredible falsehood:

“This failure to properly account for what looks very much like a gift from a wealthy acquaintance is similar to the shenanigans that ended the political career of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.”

IIRC, the “shenanigans” that ended Stevens’ career were those of the federal prosecutors.

Good point.