So what can be done about the Blue Dog Democrats and what exactly defines them?

[mtnsnake]

Everyone seems to agree that the Blue Dog Dems are a royal pain in the ass for our Party. If these so called "Democrats" aren't doing what's in the best interest of the Democratic Party on a consistent basis, isn't there something that can be done about it? Yes? No?

What exactly are they, anyway? Are they moderate Democrats? Neo-cons? Republicans dressed up as Democrats? Are they simply conservative Democrats that we are always going to have to put up with? And why isn't the Republican Party saddled with something like this?

[Marsala]

1. Most of them will be gone in January

The Blue Dogs in the House (which is technically the only place where "Blue Dogs" are) got wiped out in the Republican tsunami. The conservative Democrats in the Senate are still there, however, and there's not much that can be done about them considering some of the red states which they come from.

[mtnsnake]

18. Thank you

[Clio the Leo]

2. It's either a Blue Dog or a Republican, pick your poison...

.... at least Blue Dogs helped us keep the gavel.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Some People Won't Be Happy Until Our Delegations Are So Small They Can Meet In Holiday Inn Selects

The Democrats in the House are already at their lowest numbers since the Eisenhower administration.

[Clio the Leo]

4. lol yep. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. The Irony

The irony is the Blue Dogs are deficit hawks ;something the original poster purports to be.

Anyway you can have a big heterogeneous party or a small homogeneous one. You can't have both...

[T Wolf]

8. Some people won't be happy until the Democrats join with the enemy across the aisle and

achieve unanimity on all votes - no matter the outcome.

The Dems have lost seats because they have abandoned Democratic ideals.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. Did Alan Grayson Lose To Daniel Webster Because "He Abandoned Democratic Ideals"?

.

[nemo137]

35. No, but he's atypical of the Dems who lost.

Most of the Democratic reps who are leaving in January were towards the right of their caucus.

[Hippo_Tron]

40. Correlation does not imply causation

Just because many Democrats who lost were right leaning does not mean that they lost because they were right leaning. There are other plausible explanations including the fact that their districts were right leaning.

[mtnsnake]

10. And others run around spouting nothing but sanctimonious garbage but never offer any solutions

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. I Didn't Attack You Personally, Pal, And When I Did Accidentially I Apologized

But if you want to make DU all about me that's fine.

You are the one who is railing about the deficit:


"How about we pay as we go, instead of borrowing more from the Chinese. How about we stimulate the economy by going back to the tax rates we had before we got flushed down the toilet by Bush? Things were much much better then. In case you don't remember we went from being in the red to being in the black with a tax structure that we Democrats were all perfectly happy with."

-mtnsnake

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=563096

The Blue Dogs who you want to banish from the party share your goals:

The Blue Dogs:


As independent voices for fiscal responsibility and accountability, the Blue Dogs have a proven track record of offering bipartisan, commonsense solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing the United States. Today, our underlying structural deficits represent the biggest threat to our economic security. The "Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform" outlines 15 steps that can be taken to put the country back on a path to balance budgets and long term fiscal sustainability.

http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/

How are you going to reduce the deficit by banishing from the party those who are committed to just that.

[mtnsnake]

17. Bullshit

and you also did it in post #5 where you made a thinly veiled comparison between myself and Blue Dog Dems. How lame.

[mtnsnake]

20. Nice job on the late edits

What, I'm supposed to be embarrassed about my thread about how Bush ruined this country for 8 horrific years? I think not. That's supposed to make me a Blue Dog? LOLOL!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. I Already Juxtsaposed Your Quote And Their Mission

If you think they don't compliment one another and pefectly coincide there is nothing I can do to disabuse you of that notion.

[NorthCarolina]

34. We kept the gavel maybe, but we were still unable to beat the Republicans with it. nt

[Tippy]

6. The only thing that can be done is to vote them out......

Over the years I've seen some very strong Dems move to the Blue Dogs, they come from mostly conservative districts and moved to the right to pick up some republican votes, In my book they sold their souls for a few votes...here in TN we are now down to one Blue Dog and one Progressive. We had before the Nov electiond 4 Blue Dogs and 1 Progressive, so you see when push comes to shove the Republicans voted for the Republican on the ticket, not the Blue Dog, this time around, We also had one Strong Democrat in the TN Gen. Assembly who sent out a maiiler saying he was conservative, he lost big time....of course besides the mailer he had begun voting with Republicans almost as soon as he won the seat. He was just so dam sure he was going to get republicans to vote for him, but this time they didn't....This is a man who I predicted would one day he would run for congress...Truth is he sold his soul and refused to listen to those of us who told him he had made a big mistake. I see more Blue Dogs biting the bullet...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. By Voting Them Out We Become A Smaller Party

We would be more cohesive but we would be consigning ourselves to permanent minority status...

[T Wolf]

9. Then the Dems should just officially join the pukes so that they can be in the majority.

I guess actually achieving something progressive does not matter.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. You Should Ask Speaker Pelosi If She Rather Be The Speaker Of The House

With a heterogeneous party or Minority leasder of a homogeneous one.

After January 1st the only thing the minority party will be able to pass is gas.

America is a big, diverse place, and not everybody thinks like you or me.

[Dr.Phool]

26. The same thing they passed when they had the majority.

[Tippy]

15. Here in TN they did it to themselves....if they fell for the republican speal

Centeer is better...Right Center is even better than that. At one time TN was very blue...to bad they did not follow ther roots.....Instead they began listening ot and taking advice from their republican friends.

[Dr.Phool]

25. Spay and neuter them.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

29. There's Only Twenty Two Left Anyway

.

[Autumn]

14. I think they are "liberal" republicans.

I told mine that I won't vote for him again.

[treestar]

16. Convince them?

Really, everyone acts like it's all about force. Like Republicans. You don't like what they think? convince them. Or listen to them. but no, it's easier just to demand their "death."

Negative people only see how they must get rid of those they don't like. Never wanting to work with them at all. Everything must be a total battle.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. I Rather Have The Blue Dogs In Our Tent Pissing Out Than Outside Pissing In

.

[Dr.Phool]

28. I told a Dem Congessman, from the district next to mine, he was an asshole.

To his face, because he is.

He was one of 27 "New Democrats" (aka old republicans) who signed a letter to Dennis Hastert, begging him to please hurry up and bring that horrendous bankruptcy bill to the house floor, so they could vote for it.

He also supported the Patriot Act, and just about every other reactionary piece of barbage bill that came down the pike.

I need an asshole like that in my party? Not.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. New Democrats And Blue Dogs Are Different Groups But I Get Your Point

And yeah, the bankruptcy bill was a piece of crap.

As far as the Patriot Act I think it passed 393-3 or something. I think in the Senate Feingold was the only senator to oppose it...

[craigmatic]

19. They're about as good as we can get in conservative districts but they don't all agree on everything

there's many different levels of blue dogs. Some are more liberal than others but go under the same label. It's better to look at individual members of the caucus than to just lump them together. My congress man is a blue dog but voted largely for most major parts of Obama's agenda including cap and trade.

[mtnsnake]

21. Thank you for answering some of my questions.

Much appreciated :)

[dionysus]

24. the answer? not so simple. people like to think, just run a DK style progressive in red states.

they'd get crushed.

hell, most new england republicans would lose big if they ran in the south as gop candidates.

these blue dipshits are conservative because they live in conservative places.

the real solution, instead of fighting a politic battle by running conservative dems in hopes to win in a conservatiove state, is to wage an idealogical battle and bring the voters around to progressive ideals. turn the conservative voters into progressives. that takes a lot of time, but i think it's the only way to do it.

[mtnsnake]

27. Great post

the real solution, instead of fighting a politic battle by running conservative dems in hopes to win in a conservatiove state, is to wage an idealogical battle and bring the voters around to progressive ideals. turn the conservative voters into progressives. that takes a lot of time, but i think it's the only way to do it.

Perfectly stated! I hope this is what happens, even though it will take a lot of time, like you said.

[dionysus]

30. why thank you sir.

:hi:

[Tippy]

32. Darn...it would take a long time ...but I can't think of anything

I would like to see happen more than this....

[Supersedeas]

33. What defines them is a desire to hold office in conservative districts drawn by

republican legislatures where the general election amounts to a second primary for right wing constituents.

Republican can't lose with Blue Dogs on the ballot. Party affiliation really doesn't mean much to those with purse strings.

[Occam Bandage]

36. Just as most True Liberals wanted, most will soon be gone.

And just as everyone else in the party feared, that means the Republicans will get to set the agenda in the House.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

37. put them out of our misery

[Umbral]

38. A voting block of 23 (or so) part-time Democrats is totally irrelevant in a Republican house. nt

[Hippo_Tron]

39. They're right leaning Democrats and they've been around pretty much forever

The concept of the Democratic Party being "liberal" or "progressive" really began with FDR and the New Deal. Yes you can trace its populist roots back to William Jennings Bryan, Andrew Jackson, and even Thomas Jefferson but in terms of policy there is nothing resembling where the party is today until the New Deal.

Now, even back in FDR's day there were plenty of Democrats who opposed the New Deal and most of them were from the south. In 1938 they joined the Republicans and formed what was called the "conservative coalition" which has had considerable influence in congress for decades.

Blue Dogs are just the latest name for these types of Democrats. Having spent some time around these folks, I think it's mostly about political survival. If they were really interested in promoting conservative policies they would become Republicans and have a much easier time being re-elected by doing so.