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I have a question for the members of the Congressional Blue Dogs Coalition. Why are you a Democrat? I ask this of Mike Arcuri. If I were still living in Rome, NY, you would be my Congressman. I ask this of Ben Chandler since you represent the district in Kentucky that I grew up in and where I first voted. I ask this of Heath Shuler and Jane Harmon; of John Salazar and Loretta Sanchez. I ask this of all members of Congress who claim this name for themselves.
Why are you a member of the Democratic Party?
I ask this most sincerely as you show by your votes that you are against most of the core values I have long associated with the Democratic Party. You consistently vote against the environment. You consistently vote against Unions and workers. You consistently vote against LGBT rights. You vote for the Corporations that foul the air and poison the land. You vote to give money away to the rich and then try to show how "fiscally sound" you are by doing everything to block helping those who aren’t your big money campaign contributors.
So why do you call yourself a Democrat when you vote consistently against the values of the Democratic Party?
Who are you lying to, the voters or yourself?
I know why I align myself with the Democratic Party, even though it very rarely does as much for the middle and lower income levels as I would like. I even understand the needs for compromise on some things, even when the starting position espoused was already a half-a-loaf position.
But why do you claim to be a member of the Democratic Party? Really. Why, given that you vote against the values so often?
(I will not hold my breath in anticipation of your answer.)
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In Sanchez’s case it is simple-She is a Republican!
It’s not just Sanchez though. Or Harmon, Shuler, Chandler, Arcuri, and Salazar. It’s the entire group that claim this mantle of “Blue Dog Coalition” as they seem to actively work against the Democratic Party they profess to be members of.
I think it really is a case of Michelle Bachman or Steve King (thanks John Cole!) being so radical and/or crazy that they don’t want to be associated with them. In old days, we would call said “Blue Dogs” “Republicans.”
“infiltration”
this has been another episode of simple answers to complex questions
Hey Blue Dogs: Get off my lawn!
They’re not insane enough for the GOP, and they don’t care enough about the environment to be Greens, and they aren’t anarchist or individualist enough for the Libertarians.
So they joined the Democrats, and are doing a wonderful job of screwing over the party and its future by being DINOs, because the Democratic Party can’t get its act together enough to either kick them out or enforce party discipline.
Plus, it really does seem that all they really want is to get elected and whatever vehicle will get them there, they will hitch a ride.
Except a lot of them are in red districts, so wouldn’t it be easier for them to just… *be* Republicans?
Or did they somehow calculate that it would be easier to win the general than a primary? (Maybe because they knew they could get more free money from progressives than they could from Republicans or conservatives?)
Dugg
The Blue Balls are the DLC re-branded. It was created specifically to destroy the DemocratIC Party from within, since it makes Dem voters complacent enough that they won’t push for any real Liberal policies because, “hey, at least we have a Democrat in there, so chill out, dude.” I can’t even begin to count the amount of times people said that to me during the 1990s as I was freaking out about these horrific laws Clinton was signing, many of which helped cause our current Constitutional and economic crises.
Even now, people will then say, “Well things weren’t so bad in the 90s, so I sure wouldn’t mind a return to that.” This is Battered Party Syndrome at work.
Look at how much better things got (a lot of that time was also an economic bubble) whith just a tiny bit of Liberalism coming out of the White House. Imagine how much better it would be with consistent and actual Liberal policies being enacted.
So while they won’t answer your question honestly, we have history now to prove why DLCers call themselves Democrats, no matter what they SAY.
I think there is a valid difference between Blue Dogs and DLC types, for all that in some respects they vote along the same lines. I perceive the DLC types to still believe, in some measure, in the core values of the Democratic Party. They might triangulate and they are far more moderate than I am but they will still vote the basic social values. They will vote for increasing the minimum wage. They will at least not work actively against LGBT rights in most cases. They support a strong educational system.
I just don’t see that in most of the Blue Dogs in any way more than lip service.
IMHO, part of the DLC ploy is to give just enough bones to keep actual Democrats pacified, hence the occasional throwing of a bone. It’s never anything that pushes much beyond the status quo, if it all.
Now I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to Blue Dogs, since it just seemed like the same game, but maybe there is a distinction between them and DLCers if the Blue Dogs never even throw a bone at all.
Regardless, I still think you can ask the same question of a DLCer, “Why are you a Democrat?” I truly believe the old saying that Bill Clinton is the best Repub Prez we ever had.
And we have just awful newly minted Blue Dogs like Walt Minnick in Idaho. Who ran on campaign with signs that said “Right for Idaho”.
All this leads to the ultimate question: Is Obama a Blue Dog?
” For years, the Blue Dogs have pushed for a law requiring Congress to pay for new spending with cuts elsewhere in the budget, a concept known as “paygo,” or pay-as-you-go. President-elect Barack Obama has signaled his support for the idea and has courted the coalition.
“There will not be Blue Dog votes for the stimulus package if we’re not assured that somewhere … in the near future that statutory ‘paygo’ is going to be a part of the Obama administration,” said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., a co-chairman of the coalition. “
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w…..edog_N.htm
Did you know…
Allen Boyd’s “farm” is only about 3 miles south of the Georgia state line?
and far from most of us in the district.
That this farm gets like 2-3 hundred thousand in USDA support?
That his son got busted last fall over in the southwest?
drugs or immigrants or some convoluted story.
We sure need someone to primary against him. I was hoping he would run for Senate so he would lose and we would be rid of him.
How interesting. What is his main cash crop? Or is he paid to simply leave his fields go fallow? I cannot tolerate these Blue Dogs, they are the only breed I have absolutely no use for!