Posted on 01/15/2007 2:21:18 PM PST by Graybeard58
Besides the usual kneepad journalism from The Hartford Courant, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's entry into the 2008 Democratic presidential field last week produced a big fat yawn in Connecticut and barely registered nationally; even his fellow travelers at The New York Times buried the news.
His decision did touch off some discussion about why he was abandoning Connecticut -- overall, not a bad thing -- to be Don Quixote to the windmills of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Some speculated he's jockeying for a future Cabinet post, but more than a few Democrats whispered about vanity. That's more plausible, and compels a brief examination of how his ego got this big.
Sen. Dodd is popular in Connecticut. Why not? He's a liberal from a liberal state who reflexively supports liberal, socialist, even communist causes. But his next tough campaign will be his first. All he's done to win and keep his Senate seat is beat the Forgettable Five -- Republicans James Buckley, Roger Eddy, Brook Johnson, Waterbury's Gary Franks and Jack Orchulli.
Sen. Dodd fancies himself a tough campaigner, but he shows all the symptoms of Barbara Kennelly Syndrome (BKS), which afflicts many Connecticut Democrats. For 14 years, Mrs. Kennelly was the biannual shoo-in congresswoman from the 1st District, among the safest Democratic districts in the nation. She had a political reputation and pedigree rivaling Sen. Dodd's, but frequent electoral successes and constant adulation brought on delusions of grandeur, popularity and invincibility, the main symptoms of BKS. And so it was that on her first foray outside her fiefdom, she ran into a formidable candidate (then-Gov. John G. Rowland), who dispatched her to the political graveyard.
Like the similarly afflicted, Sen. Dodd shows all the signs of BKS, hence his presidential bid. But it won't be long before Sens. Clinton and Obama and the rest of the field pierce his pomposity and smoke his presidential aspirations.
LOL!
I recently read here that running for President is a handy way to launder surplus campaign money to yourself. When you become a candidate for an office you can pay yourself the salary that that office pays. So as long as Dodd is a candidate for President, he can pay himself at a rate of $400,000/year from his own war chest.
When you look back at some of the people who made you scratch your head when they announced their candidacy for President over the years, this information helps explain what was actually going on.
What next, you unrepentant member of the VRWC, a slander against Dodd Senior taking money from the insurance industry? The Dodd family got where it is in Connecticut today because they love the little people, really care about us, and know what's best for all.
Truly one of the oiliest and most odious pieces of garbage belched by the Nutmeg State since his father.
Not to mention all the black votes he'll steal from Obama.
While hoping to get the southern vote by saying "I'm from a slave state".
Connecticut ping!
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
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