Uh, no: "Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people." Your lucky recipients were Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND), former HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, and Richard Holbrooke, the former UN Ambassador who is frequently mentioned as the next Secretary of State in a Democratic administration, particularly when it's Holbrooke doing the mentioning.

Most of the beneficiaries claim that they had no idea they were receiving any kind of special treatment, which makes perfect sense; if someone was cutting us a sweetheart deal on a mortgage, we wouldn't ask too many questions either. The inclusion of Republican Jackson on the list is a lucky break for the Dems, because otherwise this looks like a one party scandal, which has really been the Republican's forte of late. It's nice to see the Democrats finally refuse to concede the field to the opposition for once.