Dems Damning Dems with faint praise... at NH kickoff, Sen. Dodd seems APOLOGETIC about Dem leadership for national security and foreign affairs....

(unable to link to Senator Dodd's (D-NH) comments on C-SPAN at New Hampshire Democratic kickoff.)

We are unable to link directly to Conn. Senator CHRIS DODD's comments at the New Hampshire Democratic kickoff last week, but viewing the CSPAN video of Dodd's speech there, we couldn't help but take away the vision of Senator Dodd saying "Give us Democrats a chance in leading the nation on national security and foreign policy... We can't be any worse than the Bush Republicans!"

Now we will admit that the above is not an exact transcript of the Senator's comments.

And we have to say that, according to Wikipedia's entry for Senator Dodd, he SHOULD be our kind of Senator.
<< Senator Dodd is considered left of center with respect to Latin America. His record especially with regard to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the Farabundo Martí rebels in El Salvador has led to conflict with Republican Administrations. He is highly critical of the embargo and restrictions the U.S. has towards the country of Cuba. He favors more lenient immigration laws. >>

To begin with, "left of center" is a misnomer: the Republicans have been able to push America so FAR to the RIGHT of center through relentless demagoging in partisan politics and the press/media echo chamber, that Republicans have managed to convince millions of Americans that (small 'd') DEMOCRACY in Central and South America is A THREAT to the United States; just as Right-Wing Republicans were foaming at the mouth that the Panama Canal Treaty was "A GIVEAWAY" to that nation.

But unfortunately, butting heads with Right-Wing Republicans over the years has made even a fighter like Senator Dodd circumspect, and in his New Hampshire speech Sen. Dodd seemed more apologetic for the Democrats than condemnatory or outraged at the Republican misrule and gross corruption that we document daily here.

Indeed, "CIRCUMSPECT" seems to be word that defines Democrats theses past few years.

The problem isn't entirely due to Democratic leaders and senators, of course - Right-Wing front groups and wealthy donors such as the Coors foundation, the Olin foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Cato institute, the Mellon-Scaife newspapers, and dozens of other Right-Wing organizations will BLAST Democratic and 'left-of-center' policies from here to Kingdom Come, regardless of what Democratic leaders do and say, and over the past dozen years, these well funded Righty groups have asserted almost complete MASTERY over the entire US "major media." On any given night on CSPAN, you will see 'experts' at AEI, Cato, and other pro-Republican organizations droning on and on about how taxation and federal programs will be the death of America, never mind that New Orleans gives a text book demonstration of what happens when the federal government DOES NOT do its job, of building safe and effective dikes, or providing speedy and efficient rescue relief in a disaster region.

But in the case of LEADERSHIP FAILURES as GLARING as the Bush administration has inflicted on America, Iraq, and elsewhere - from stolen elections and Diebold voting, to 9-11 gross incompetence and negligence, to Iraq WMD lies to torture to the botched occupation there; to the gross mismanagement and CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE of New Orleans flooding, reconstruction, and Katrina disaster preparations... on these and dozens of other critical issues, the Democrats wield a foam cheering stick, while the Republicans wield baseball bats and steel rods in their brutal political 'knee-caping" demagoging, intimidation, and party-line enforcement, in the media and in the corridors of power.