What exactly is a "Blue dog democrat"

[Tim01]

and is that considered a bad thing? Or does it just depend on the democrat who is asked?

[TN al]

1. I think it is a fiscally conservative democrat...

...not really they type of person you would expect to post on sites like this one.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Wikipedia is your friend

I am constantly amazed at what can be found there.

Blue Dog Coalition (Redirected from Blue Dog Democrat)

The Blue Dog Democratic Coalition is a group of 47 moderate and conservative Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives. The Blue Dogs promote, among other things, fiscal conservatism and accountability. Many members come from conservative districts, where liberal Democrats comprise a decided minority of the general population. In 2006, Blue Dog candidates such as Heath Shuler and Brad Ellsworth were elected in conservative-leaning districts, ending years of Republican dominance in these areas.

...

The Blue Dogs are the political descendants of a now defunct Southern Democratic group known as the Boll Weevils, who played a critical role in the early 1980s by supporting President Ronald Reagan's tax cut plan. The Boll weevils, in turn, may be considered the descendants of the "states' rights" Democrats of the 1940s through '60s.

"Blue Dog Democrat" is derived from the term "Yellow Dog Democrat." Former Texas Democratic Rep. Pete Geren is credited for coining the term, explaining that the members had been "choked blue" by "extreme" Democrats from the left. The term is also a reference to the "Blue Dog" paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana. The original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whom had Rodrigue's paintings on their walls. Tauzin and Hayes later switched to the Republican Party. The Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1994 during the 104th Congress to give more conservative members from the Democratic party a unified voice.

[rolltideroll]

3. A blue dog

Is a democrat who rose out of what was formerly the Solid South. THey reemerged after the Republican Revolution in 94, and differentiated themselves from other democrats by posturing as fiscal conservatives, anti abortion, and basically a conservative who is a member of the Dems because they don't agree with Repub policies for the middle class. It is a survival mechanism more than anything else. They don't want to jump ship because they are power brokers for the Democratic party, they would just be another Senator from the south if they became Republicans. All in all they are a great deal for the party, allowing us to hold onto seats, and allowing them to vote in their own interest when we do not need their votes, allowing the good ole boys to separate them from Barney Frank or Pelosi. It's pretty Machiavellian, but so is reality.

[zanne]

26. "It's pretty Machiavellian, but so is reality".

Good one, rolltideroll.

[rolltideroll]

4. A blue dog

Is a democrat who rose out of what was formerly the Solid South. THey reemerged after the Republican Revolution in 94, and differentiated themselves from other democrats by posturing as fiscal conservatives, anti abortion, and basically a conservative who is a member of the Dems because they don't agree with Repub policies for the middle class. It is a survival mechanism more than anything else. They don't want to jump ship because they are power brokers for the Democratic party, they would just be another Senator from the south if they became Republicans. All in all they are a great deal for the party, allowing us to hold onto seats, and allowing them to vote in their own interest when we do not need their votes, allowing the good ole boys to separate them from Barney Frank or Pelosi. It's pretty Machiavellian, but so is reality.

[mmonk]

5. Effectively a Republican.

[rolltideroll]

6. That too nt

[stray cat]

16. That votes democrats and insures democrats actually have a chance of getting elected

The 30% of moderates you label republicans are important for winning elections.

[leftofthedial]

7. a piece of utter crap in slightly less objectionable crap clothing.

[rolltideroll]

8. Yea, Idiots

but useful ones. They keep the real nutjobs out of the senate. I am in North Bama, and I love the area and it's people, but the populace here will elect some pretty un hinged, bad guy from The Dead Zone style politicians. It's a take what you can get kind of situation.

[MrPerson]

9. A Democrat willing to take bribes and then then make it look

like an act of conscience.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. A blue dog dem is what my puppies leave on the sidewalk each morning.

I have to pick up after them too.

[HughMoran]

11. An ass hole

& not a Democrat.

[Tim01]

12. So then is there a republican equivelant?

Is that what is meant by a RINO? Would that be accurate?

[rateyes]

13. Yes. The Republican Equivalent is

a Blue Dog Democrat. :evilgrin:

[rolltideroll]

15. Yea, that's right

I think it balances out. Snowe,Collins,Specter. I still think RINO is a bad term. IT just bugs me for some reason.

[Freddie Stubbs]

19. Republican Main Street Partnership:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Main_Street_Partnership

[Warpy]

14. They're either or both fiscally and socially conservative Dems

who were largely elected in conservative states. That's why they're clustered in the south and west.

They're just the old Boll Weevil Democrats with a new name.

[stray cat]

17. It sounds like these people should vote republican so dems can be pure and powerless

[Justpat]

18. It is a republican who runs as a Dem. n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

20. It's people who think that Bush and the GOP has been doing

a heckuva job and they want the country and our democratic form of government to continue to be systematically destroyed by the giant multinational corporations and the old money international super bankers. They(the "To The Manor Born"/Old Money democrats)along with the neocons, push anti-unionism, globalization, a drastic lowering of the American standard of living for 98% of us and in the end, a one world government.

[OHdem10]

21. Initially, Blue Dogs were primarily Southern(Conservative) Democrats

and as time past they increased their numbers with members
from states usually trending Republican.This is not meant
to sound mean spirited at all. For people who have followed
politics through the years, Blue Dog Democrats are very very
similar to what was at one time Moderate Republican. They
are Democrats who tend to be more right of center than left
of center.

[tekisui]

22. When a Democrat gets fleas.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

33. LOL!

:rofl:

[Blue_Tires]

23. Dixiecrats who are slightly more evolved...

[tangent90]

24. And without whom, Republicans would control everything forever.

...

[Phred42]

25. Blue Dogs: The OTHER Republicans

[Peace Patriot]

27. Gary Condit is the best example of a "Blue Dog" Democrat.

That's where I first heard the term. Condit was the leader of the "Blue Dog" Democrats who voted for Bush/Cheney's first tax cut for the rich, on May 3, 2001, a highly controversial and close vote, in which only 10 Democrats defected to the Bush Junta, all "Blue Dogs." Condit also proposed a bill requiring that the Ten Commandments be placed in all public buildings. Condit had at least two, possibly three, mistresses at the time, one of whom--Chandra Levy--disappeared three days before the tax cut vote, on May 1, 2001, on a day during which Condit met with Dick Cheney (a meeting that occurred during her very disappearance hours, and concerning which nobody--not the corpo/fasicist press, not the FBI, not the DC police--ever asked Cheney or his aides a single question, not even to verify that the meeting took place).

There's your "Blue Dog." A tool of the rich and the corporate and the war profiteers. Uber-hypocritical SOB with a "D" by his name.

[Vickers]

28. A Republican with a Democratic grandmother.

:P

[scrinmaster]

29. Democrats in a fairly conservative region,

If they ran on a more liberal platform, they'd lose, and a Republican would take their place.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

34. Nope.

I am a Democrat in a conservative region - Believe me - I am not a blue dog.

They are nothing more than a Republican that for some reason has a problem admitting it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. The cutting edge of the "not as bad" wing of the Democratic Party.

Homeless Republican moderates that attract Reagan Democrats as an alternative to liberals.

[Individualist]

31. A republican who tries to pass as a Democrat

There aren't too many people who are fooled by them.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

32. They are

really DINO'S-

Republicans.

Whatever but they are not liberals. They are in effect the people who fuck up the party.