OUTRAGE! Dodd and Conrad cleared! Democrat controlled senate decides not to file ethics charges against two of their own. Surprised?

Rangel, Pelosi, Schumer, Frank, Dodd and Reid should all be incarcerated..

Looks like Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad are off the hook with the Senate Ethics Committee regarding their VIP mortgages from Countrywide Financial.

In letters sent to the senators this afternoon and just posted on the Ethics Committee website, the committee said it found no credible evidence that the Countrywide mortgages violated Senate ethics rules. Furthermore, the committee investigation found that the actual mortgage rates offered to Dodd and Conrad under the VIP program "were not the best deals available at Countrywide or in the marketplace at large."

Still, the committee admonished the senators for their lack of discretion, saying they should have "exercised more vigilance" in order to avoid the appearance that they were receiving preferential treatment.

"This is most welcome news," Conrad said in a statement. "The Ethics Committee’s exhaustive inquiry confirms what I have said all along: I did not ask for or receive any preferential pricing on my loans. While I should have shown more vigilance in the appearance of these transactions, the committee has concluded I did nothing unethical, and that is the truth."

The investigation seemed to turn on the finding that neither Dodd nor Conrad "knowingly" accepted the VIP mortgage rates, which is what the senators maintained all along. The complaint was originally filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Republicans were still quick with a critical response.

"While this might provide a short-term boost for Connecticut’s scandal-scarred senior Senator, there’s no doubt Chris Dodd has a long way to go in restoring voters’ trust in his leadership and ethics," said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Whether it’s his role in approving bonuses for AIG executives, his questionable real estate deal in Ireland or his decision to move to Iowa and run for President while the housing market was collapsing, it’s hard to see this as anything other than one issue down, but many more still unanswered.”