Dumb Dodd

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has apparently had a Trent Lott moment, according to UPI: In a speech on the Senate floor last Thursday marking Sen. Robert Byrd’s 17,000th vote in the body, Dodd said the West Virginia Democrat, member of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office and opponent of the 1964 Civil Right ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has apparently had a Trent Lott moment, according to UPI:

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has apparently had a Trent Lott moment, according to UPI:

In a speech on the Senate floor last Thursday marking Sen. Robert Byrd’s 17,000th vote in the body, Dodd said the West Virginia Democrat, member of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office and opponent of the 1964 Civil Right Act, “would have been right during the great conflict of Civil War in this nation.” Dodd’s comments struck some as similar to remarks made by former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., that led to his losing the position. The comments were made as part of large praise of Byrd’s great service as a Senator, which Dodd said, “would have been right at anytime.”

— See here, here, and here for blogosphere reaction that this is a Trent Lott moment. It was a stupid thing to say, but then again, given Dodd’s position on outsourcing, it’s far from the only stupid thing he’s said recently. The thing is, unlike Lott, I’m not sure Dodd has a leadership position to resign from.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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