Index: wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php
===================================================================
--- wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php	(revision 18850)
+++ wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php	(working copy)
@@ -612,11 +612,10 @@
 	global $wpdb;
 
 	if ( current_user_can('edit_posts') )
-		$allowed_states = array('0', '1');
+		$allowed_states = "c.comment_approved IN ('0','1') AND";
 	else
-		$allowed_states = array('1');
+		$allowed_states = "c.comment_approved = '1' AND";
 
-	// Select all comment types and filter out spam later for better query performance.
 	$comments = array();
 	$start = 0;
 
@@ -624,12 +623,12 @@
 	$total_items = isset( $widgets['dashboard_recent_comments'] ) && isset( $widgets['dashboard_recent_comments']['items'] )
 		? absint( $widgets['dashboard_recent_comments']['items'] ) : 5;
 
-	while ( count( $comments ) < $total_items && $possible = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT * FROM $wpdb->comments c LEFT JOIN $wpdb->posts p ON c.comment_post_ID = p.ID WHERE p.post_status != 'trash' ORDER BY c.comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT $start, 50" ) ) {
+	while ( count( $comments ) < $total_items && $possible = $wpdb->get_results( "SELECT c.* FROM $wpdb->comments c LEFT JOIN $wpdb->posts p ON c.comment_post_ID = p.ID WHERE $allowed_states p.post_status != 'trash' ORDER BY c.comment_date_gmt DESC LIMIT $start, 50" ) ) {
 
 		foreach ( $possible as $comment ) {
 			if ( count( $comments ) >= $total_items )
 				break;
-			if ( in_array( $comment->comment_approved, $allowed_states ) && current_user_can( 'read_post', $comment->comment_post_ID ) )
+			if ( current_user_can( 'read_post', $comment->comment_post_ID ) )
 				$comments[] = $comment;
 		}