[This is one of a continuing series of candidate speech transcripts from all the Democratic presidential campaigns. Please see the introduction to this series for more information.]

Chris Dodd

http://chrisdodd.com/home

Rekindling the Flame -- A Call for A New American Patriotism

Nashua City Hall Plaza, Nashua, New Hampshire
6/23/07

Thank you, Mike, for that generous introduction, for your support and for your quarter-century of service to this community. I know of no more tireless advocate for firefighters, first responders and public safety.

Continue Reading »

[Update: Here are links to all of the speeches, in the order that they ran in:]

Chris Dodd

Joe Biden

John Edwards

Barack Obama

Bill Richardson

Hillary Clinton

Dennis Kucinich

Mike Gravel

Today begins a series of campaign speech transcripts from each of the Democratic candidates for president. [Today also begins my vacation... but more about that in a minute.]

Time was when every candidate for president was taken seriously by this country's media. Their words were analyzed and reported in full, so that the American public could gauge for themselves what each candidate stood for, and what each would do if subsequently elected. Back then, the media considered it "newsworthy" to report what the candidates actually said.

Alas, in today's world, there are seemingly just two types of campaign stories: the horserace, and the "gotcha!" gimmick.

Continue Reading »

Just a short three-dot column today...

...For all of you interested in showing Dianne Feinstein what the voters of California think of her recent actions, there is a drive for the California Democratic Party to officially censure Senator Feinstein at its upcoming executive board meeting. I have no contact information for them, but if I were thinking of letting them know how I felt, I'd start at the California Democratic Party website.

[Update: You can sign the petition to censure Dianne Feinstein at CourageCampaign.org.]

Continue Reading »

A United States Ministry of Truth spokesman proudly unveiled the new official definition of "privacy" today, on the heels of their successful campaign to redefine "torture." The new meaning of the word "privacy" will now be (according to MiniTru): "the secure feeling citizens get by knowing that their government is collecting and protecting their personal data." Old definitions of privacy will no longer be operative.

The MiniTru spokesman was quite enthusiastic about the definition rollout. "For generations Americans have been burdened by the responsibility of guarding their own privacy," he said. "This was too great a task for the public to adequately control, so the logical answer was to have the government take over this onerous work, to better serve each citizen's private life. No longer will Americans have to worry about their own privacy, because now Big Brother will take care of it for them."

Continue Reading »

About the Cartoonist  |  Reprint Policy

It's been a week of ups and downs for Democrats. Mostly downs.

While congressional Democrats still have yet to pass a single budget bill, they did find the time this week to confirm Michael Mukasey as our new Attorney General. On the positive side, they also successfully overrode a Bush veto for the first time ever.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was timidly bold for a short time. I wish "timidly bold" were indeed the oxymoron that it appears, but sadly it seems that this is the best we can expect from our Democratically-controlled Congress. Pelosi backed only giving President Bush $50 billion for his war in Iraq, instead of the $200 billion he asked for. She then tried to throw a gauntlet of sorts down, by stating that this would be the only bill Bush would see this year to fund Iraq.

Continue Reading »

I have believed for a long time now that whenever you see dismal poll numbers for Congress' approval ratings, there is one simple reason for them: Iraq. Democrats swept both houses of Congress last year, and the reason why the people who voted them in do not approve of the job they've been doing is because they haven't done more to end the war in Iraq.

My belief in this basic premise is strengthened by new poll numbers from Pew. The statement (from the survey): "In challenging Bush about Iraq, Democratic leaders are going..." had four possible answers: "Too far," "Not far enough," "About right," and "Don't know."

Continue Reading »

To Senators Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer;

When, in the future, you retire from the Senate and sit down to write your memoirs, I predict that this week's vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey will not rank as one of "the votes I'm proudest of in the Senate" for either of you.

You both knew that voting for Mukasey was the wrong thing to do, and yet you did it anyway for reasons that can only be described as "political expediency." Not exactly a profile in courage for either one of you.

Continue Reading »

The first column I wrote this year on the presidential campaign (5/23/07) took a decidedly unconventional view of the primary season: What if all the pundits are wrong and we DON'T crown a winner on February 5th? Is it possible, in other words, that no winner will be anointed and the campaign will continue -- perhaps all the way to an open party convention?

Jump forward six months, and the pundits are finally beginning to wonder about such a possibility. Chris Cillizza, political blogger for the Washington Post, has just written an article which explores this question in detail, for both parties -- if there is no one clear winner on February 5th, then what could the delegate map look like? It's a great read if you're into wonky "what if" speculation, and the best breakdown I've seen yet of how it all could play out.

Continue Reading »

So here we are, with a year and a day to go before the 2008 presidential election. But what will we be talking about next November as we head to the polls?

I know it is supposed to be my job to prognosticate the future by throwing a dart at the wall and loudly proclaiming "This is where we will be!" -- but today I am turning over the prediction business to you instead. Because I am interested in what other people think the momentous issues of next year's election will be, no matter who is left running. So let me know what you think.

The questions are hard to answer, but easy to ask. Here's just a random sampling of what the possible "big issue" could be this time next year.

Continue Reading »