The Daily Kos community is populated by a diverse cross-section of the American public -- patriotic citizens participating in political debate. And as with every political debate there will be a wide range of ideas, many of which Senator Dodd does not agree with.
But to selectively choose the handful of the most extreme comments from the millions of voices in the conversation and fashion that as representative of a whole community is patently unfair.
You would think that Mr. O'Reilly would understand that it is wrong to pass judgment based on a few comments taken out of context. Otherwise, I would hate to think what kind of conclusion people would reach about Mr. O'Reilly based exclusively on these comments he has made in the past:
"And if Al Qaeda comes in here [San Francisco] and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."
"I think [the ACLU is] a terrorist group. They're terrorizin' me and my family. They're terrorizing me. I think they're terrorists."
"You know, if Carter were president today, we'd all be speaking Arabic."
"According to the lefty zealots, the white Christians who hold power must be swept out by a new multicultural tide, a rainbow coalition, if you will."
Or this comment he made about a rape and murder victim: "wearing a miniskirt and a halter top. ... [E]very predator in the world is gonna pick that up at 2 in the morning."
Senator Dodd is proud to participate in the Yearly Kos conference and engage in a free exchange of ideas with this important community. Senator Dodd himself is member of the DailyKos community, having participated in a vigorous exchange of bold ideas prior to the New Hampshire debate in June. At a time when the stakes could not be greater for the nation, we should applaud civic participation, not try to demonize it.
