Chris Dodd for President

Bob Geiger has a long write-up of a meeting he and a number of other bloggers had with Senator Dodd on Saturday after the Yearly Kos Presidential Forum. Geiger touches on a number of the topics under discussion in the meeting, including Dodd's strong push-back on Bill O'Reilly, damage to the rule of law and civil liberties under the Military Commissions Act and FISA, political strategy around ending the Iraq war, the strategic considerations of impeachment, and the state of the presidential race. I want to draw out this particular passage on fighting to end the Iraq war with principle and conviction:

"I think we walked off the Defense Department Authorization bill too quickly. I think we should have stayed right with that. Not that these other issues aren't important… The ethics stuff is important and the SCHIP for the kids is important -- I don’t want to minimize the importance of those things, but nothing is more important than the Iraq war. You've got to stick with it." When Pachacutec of Firedoglake emphasized the need for Senate Democrats to get stronger spines and "even if you lose, pick a fight," Dodd immediately agreed. "I think it's much more valuable to get 20 votes for something that means something than when you try to get 51 votes," Dodd said.

Dodd made clear that he's the candidate with the conviction to lead the fight to end the Iraq war. Conviction means not bowing to political expediency, but standing up for your beliefs and demanding that Congress do what is right. Senator Dodd understands that the bold position isn't always going to be able to muster a slim majority, let alone the super majority needed to get past Republican filibusters. I'm believe Senator Dodd is the best person to be our President precisely because of his conviction and his commitment to leadership on the most important issues facing America. I don't want someone who looks at a slim majority as the best we can do, but fights for the right thing with the knowledge that leadership is what's needed and what our country craves.