Portfolio's Role in Dodd's Downfall

This is the sort of kvetching I could never have done when I was still at the late Conde Nast Portfolio, as it would have seemed self-serving. But Portfolio's dead, so I can come out and say it: I think the media has been spectacularly ungenerous in not crediting the late magazine for the downfall of Chris Dodd, who has decided not to run for reelection.

Certainly his ties to Countrywide, exposed by Portfolio's Dan Golden in June 2008, were not the only reason Dodd has bowed out. But they figured significantly. Dan, a Pulitzer winner while at the Wall Street Journal, is now with Bloomberg, and just wrote a long takeout for Bloomberg-BusinessWeek. (And no, he didn't put me up to this.)

Portfolio got knocked to smithereens by the media while it was alive. At leave give credit where credit is due now that it's kaput, folks.

Here's an irony: now that Dodd is on the way out, financial regulatory reform is in danger. Ain't that a kick in the head?

© 2010 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.