DailyKos commenter Horsefeathers answers Bill O'Reilly's question: "What are ya gonna do with a guy like Dodd?"

Well, BillO, I'm going to start by CHEERING him, then I think I'm going to send him a contribution, then I think I may throw some rose petals in his general direction. That'll teach him.

This is just one of the many, many comments praising Dodd's appearance on O'Reilly's show. I'll pull out more tonight and tomorrow, but I thought this one was just so poignant a response to O'Reilly that it merited being shared now.

You can show your support and contribute to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign here.

Senator Dodd's appearance on "The O'Reilly Factor" to stand up to O'Reilly and defend his decision to attend Yearly Kos will air in just a few minutes. After finishing the interview, Senator Dodd said:

I hope that our discussion today reminds Bill that a free press is at the very heart of this nation's values. The blogosphere is enormous - and to exploit such a tiny fraction of it in such a way is ludicrous, especially considering that Bill himself has said some things in the past that he may not want distorted... Democrats aren't going to be lectured to about the crudeness of language or civility of discourse by Bill O'Reilly.

Dodd successfully exposed O'Reilly's hypocrisy, referring to offensive comments O'Reilly has made in the past including when O'Reilly suggested that Al Qaeda "go ahead" and "blow up" Coit Tower in San Francisco (Media Matters).

The word I got from our communications director Hari Sevugan, who as at the taping and had also previously issued a strong statement on O'Reilly's lack of standing to criticize Daily Kos for offensive comments was that it was a confrontational interview:

1.) O'Reilly cut the interview short. The told us seven minutes, it was around 4 1/2.

2.) It was quite confrontational -- Dodd consistently rejected the premise of O'Reilly's questions.

3.) Dodd hit all the important points: selectively picking a micro-sample of comments that are not representative; 500,000 people a day visit the site

4.) O'Reilly's bluster about Yearly Kos is about O'Reilly not liking the ideology and he ought to be honest about that

5.) Dodd called O'Reilly on making comments that were even worse, then mentioned the Coit Tower piece, when O'Reilly urged terrorists to blow it up. O'Reilly asked Dodd when he said that, and Dodd apparently gave him the date.

6.) Finally, O'Reilly ended the interview abruptly by saying that Dodd "was no Joe Lieberman."

Heh, indeedy.

I hope the interview is well received, as it sounds like Dodd did a great job standing up to Bill O'Reilly. I'd ask that if you think so and if you want to join Dodd in standing up to O'Reilly, visit http://chrisdodd.com/OReilly and add your name to the list of people who are saying "Enough is enough" to O'Reilly's smear tactics.

NB: Crooks & Liars should have the video later. I encourage you all to watch.

Senator Dodd issued the following statement in response to Senator Obama's foreign policy speech:

"Frankly, I am not sure what Barack is calling for in his speech this morning. But it is dangerous and irresponsible to leave even the impression the United States would needlessly and publicly provoke a nuclear power.

"As Commander in Chief, I would take the steps necessary to defend the American people, beginning with hunting down Osama bin Laden and stopping terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons. But I will not declare my intentions for specific military action to the media in the context of a political campaign."

"I am deeply troubled by the incredible amount of consolidation occurring across the American media landscape. The power of the media is swiftly being limited to a few controlling hands, which poses a serious threat to our democracy. The foundation of our democracy rests in our ability to hear from a diverse array of sources so that we can make informed decisions. The Wall Street Journal has provided a valuable and important news choice to the American public for years.

"With News Corp's purchase of the newspaper, I am concerned that it will be very difficult for the Journal to offer fair and balanced reporting under the pressures of a giant-media conglomerate."

Matt is on his way out to the Yearly Kos Convention in Chicago. Tim Tagaris and our new internet technology director, Aaron Welch, will be there as well. If you're going, please feel free to drop them a line so you can chat.

Also, as a reminder, Senator Dodd will be appearing on "The O'Reilly Factor" to defend his participation in Yearly Kos. Actually, there won't be much defense involved -- the strategy is to take it right to O'Reilly.

Stand with Chris Dodd while he stands up for the netroots and stands up to O'Reilly. Add your name to the list of people who are standing up to Bill O'Reilly's attacks.

http://chrisdodd.com/OReilly

On Wednesday night Senator Dodd will appear on "The O'Reilly Factor" to stand up to its host, Bill O'Reilly, for his unfair attacks on progressive bloggers. O'Reilly has spent the last two weeks smearing a Democratic blog, DailyKos.com, as well as Democrats who are attending the Yearly Kos conference. Senator Dodd is going on to defend free speech and make clear that he will be proudly attending Yearly Kos.

Unlike O'Reilly, Chris Dodd knows the difference between representative comments and ones cherry picked with a hostile agenda. He has the conviction to stand with his friends online and stand up to O'Reilly.

Bill O'Reilly isn't used to someone stepping in to do the right thing. He isn't used to someone putting their foot down and saying, "Enough is enough."

Will you stand with Chris Dodd in his defense of the netroots?

Sign up now!

Senator Dodd will appear on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor tomorrow, August 1st, in advance of attending the YearlyKos convention in Chicago to personally respond to O'Reilly's attacks on the progressive blogosphere. As Greg Sargent of TPM Café writes, Dodd will be "the first Presidential candidate to personally appear on a leading right-wing show for the explicit purpose of defending the liberal blogosphere."

Last week, Dodd's campaign was quick to point out the hypocrisy in O'Reilly's attack on DailyKos for the objectionable language used by a handful of commenters on the site. Communications Director Hari Sevugan said:

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 we do 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.
...
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 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.

The O'Reilly Factor airs at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Fox News.

Here's the video from Senator Dodd's at a Head Start Classroom: