IF The GOP Collapses Who Will The Blue Dogs Have To Vote With?

[Me.]

Presumably if the party is in shreds their candidates will be too which leaves no allies for the blue dogs. It will now be the challenge of progressives to see that gop candidates are replaced with progressives. No more footholds for blue dogs masquerading as dems. It should also be noted by Rahm that his strategy of slipping conservatives in, in the place of progressives, is now hampering the president's agenda.

[Taverner]

Whigs -> Republicans -> New Party

There will always be a tent for hatred

[IntravenousDemilo]

7. Were the Whigs all that hateful?

Weren't they abolitionists at a time when Democrats were whipping their black field hands? Even the Republicans were more liberal than the Democrats in the time of Lincoln.

[Taverner]

8. No they weren't - but it was a very different world back then

They weren't total abolitionists, and even the original GOP charter didn't have abolition in it

The Democrats, well, yeah they bent over backwards to accommodate the slavers.

[IntravenousDemilo]

9. All I'm saying is that 19th-Century Whigs have little in common with 21st-Century Pigs.

And compared to most others at the time, the Whigs were not inhabiting the "tent for hatred".

[wtbymark]

1. their newly formed party - the Whigs

edited to say 'ya beat me to it'

[ananda]

2. The corporate-elite Greed Party.

nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. The don't vote "with" so much as "against"

"My party tells me to vote a certain way. Well, I'm independent so screw them!"

[ShortnFiery]

4. Perhaps they'll go their own "Third Way?" That would be fine by me.

Otherwise we can split into Progressive Democrats vs. Third Way Democrats. We're as different as night (pro-war & Corporations) and day (anti-war and Workers' rights)

[Me.]

5. Or

For the people they're supposed to represent or against them as per the bankruptcy bill today

[dmallind]

6. Once again latest vote only 13% of Blue Dogs did not support budget

and 2/3 of the nay sayers were not Blue Dogs.

What presidential agenda has been thwarted by Blue Dogs - with specific vote totals please?

[Me.]

10. Nice Try

It would be refreshing, for a change to see the likes of Landrieu (D-LA),
Lincoln (D-AR), Nelson (D-NE)and Pryor (D-AR) plus others of their persuasion actually develop a pattern of voting for that which benefits people rather than corporations or lobbyists. As we learned in the election every vote counts and is important especially on bills like the bankruptcy bill which failed to pass in the senate today and which our president says he considers to be very important as regarding all the homeowners who are in trouble.

[dmallind]

14. What did I try to do referring to Senators?

At least know what Blue Dogs are before you try to refute claims about them.

[Me.]

15. Who & What They Are Has Been Amply Clear

over the last 8 years when they supported many Bush policies and dissed their own party.

[American Renewal]

13. The Demise of the Right (Reich)

As this group of fruitcakes gets smaller and smaller, and their hypocrisy is more and more exposed for the antiquated garbage it is, it's important that we don't just lurch left.

This is an opportunity for a true Constitutional Moderate party to rise and offer pragmatic balance to the right and the left. Restoration of the Rule of Law, the end of Social Justice as a crutch for the special interest, and a return to the premise of equality. This is the "change" that we can realize if we step up and seize it.

Blue Dogs, Conserv-A-Dems, whatever you want to call them, these are people who understand that you can be progressive in policy and in mindset without tilting the scales all the way left. There is no balance in any extreme.

[TheKentuckian]

11. We'll then split and have two parties that actually believe in government

and aren't drunk on theocracy.

So, we'll be back to where we were (more or less) before the Republicans went completely insane. A Blue Dog is just a sane Republican.

[OHdem10]

12. If the GOP decided to open up their party, the Blue Dogs might be

right at home as Moderate Republicans.

Never underestimate the GOP. They have tasted power and liked it.

In other words we must not get snagged in by our own press reports.

[HooptieWagon]

16. If the GOP collapses, the Blue Dog's votes are no longer necessary.

They can form their own moderate party, or remain in a slightly more left Democratic Party.

Of greater concern, what happens to the ex-GOPers? The neo-cons and imperialists will certainly try to slip in the back door left open for them by the DLC. That must be resisted. The fundies, racists, and other whack-jobs will be left in the wilderness and feel left out of the political process. Yea, it's their own damn fault. But, they may be attracted to various fringe groups, who could be militant, violent, and potential domestic terrorists. Extreme RW groups will have to be monitored.