Remember the SOPA drama last week? It has given MPAA not-quite-lobbyist Chris Dodd a bad case of foot-in-mouth: he publicly threatened politicians who’d taken MPAA money for not doing what the MPAA wanted. On national television, no less.

Un-freakin’-believable. And just this side of actually criminal. Dodd is a former senator — he should know that the money-for-votes relationship is illegal, and must remain an unspoken truth. Now he’s confirmed what everyone knew was the case, but had no evidence for: that SOPA/PIPA were written by the entertainment industry, and that that industry considers its donations to be bribes and expects the laws they want to be passed because of them.

(Hint, Mr. Dodd: the polite fiction is that campaign donations are no-strings-attached gifts, presumably because the politician in question has views compatible with the gift-giver and the gift-giver wants to help ensure that the politician is elected. Crossing that line is illegal. I shouldn’t have to be telling you this.)

If the MPAA doesn’t fire Dodd over that comment, they’ll prove they’re just as stupid and out-of-touch as he just shown himself to be.

EDIT, 2012-01-25: Hm, maybe this was actually criminal. Some people think so, anyway. I rather hope that this probe happens, though realistically I expect Obama and other politicians won’t dare to upset the MPAA any further by investigating them… unless, of course, enough people demand it. I also expect that, if such an investigation is started, it will be a sham, and everyone will know it.