Are there Democrats in Congress who are actually Republicans?

[Voice for Peace]

I haven't heard anything about this but have been wondering. It
seems like something that would have fit with Rove's plans for
an eternal Republican Congress.

ie, getting Republicans on both sides of the aisle, fooling
most of the people most of the time that they are actually
"conservative Democrats."

[Totally Committed]

1. Google "Bush Dogs", "Blue Dogs", "Joseph Lieberman", and "DLC"..... or

just look at a few key votes.

My answer: Yes, I believe there are.


TC

[DangerDave921]

2. Definitions?

Depends on how you define D and R. If you define Repub as anyone who doesn't vote in concert with the prevailing DU views, then of course there are. I would say that there are Dems in power who are more centrist. They are still Dems, but just don't have the same worldview as most DU'ers.

I think there is a distinction between Dems and progressives. Not all Dems in power will cast progressive votes, which leads to a lot of the indignation on here.

[Warpy]

3. Remember Boll Weevil Democrats?

Back in the good old days before all the bigots found a happy home in the GOP, there was a group of Democrats, mostly southern, who consistently voted with the GOP side of the aisle and giving them de facto majorities on many issues.

Now we call them Blue Dogs, conservatives of various types who vote with the GOP and give them a de facto majority on far too many issues.

Unfortunately for us, the party really is what the GOP claims to be, a big tent party. The only thing we can do about the Blue Dogs is identify them and work against them in their own states, hoping the replacements aren't quite as conservative.

[Sonicmedusa]

4. Sure are.

Yep, we've been infiltrated.

Bunch of tail chasers. Woof!

[cali]

5. No. There are some fairly

conservative dems though. That's for sure. Many of those come from red districts, or closely mixed districts. In NE, you're unlikely to get a liberal democrat elected. Same goes with other certain other places.

[Glorfindel]

9. Yeah, like my own congressperson, Gene Taylor

The best thing about him is that he's also Trent Lott's congressman. Well, to be fair, he is a champion of veterans' rights. Otherwise, he might as well be a Puke. If he took progressive positions on gay rights and abortion, he'd never get elected.

[wyldwolf]

6. no.

Simple as that. There are Democrats more conservative than others, but no one on the left who makes such charges have adequately defined the terms yet.

[jobycom]

7. Politicians join parties for different reasons, and the voters make the decision.

Politicians choose their party for a couple of main reasons. One is basic ideology--are they basically liberal or conservative? But they also join for other reasons, like electability, regional expectations, family and friends, etc.

Back until the 80s, Texas always voted Democrat within the state, but there was a conservative and liberal side to the Democratic Party. The real elections were held during the primaries--the general election was just a formality. This helped the side in power to cheat, since the primaries were easier to rig than the general. As a random example--Ralph Yarborough, a populist liberal, ran for governor three times in the fifties against conservative Democrats. Twice he ran against the incumbent, Allan Shivers, a conservative Democrat. Polls showed he would win the third election, so Shivers stepped down, and the conservative Democrats ran the popular conservative senator Price Daniels. Historians largely agree that Yarborough got more votes, but the Democratic Party just declared that Daniels had won, and Yarborough had no recourse.

He got his revenge, though. He ran for the senate seat Daniels had vacated, and won, and served thirteen glorious populist years in the Senate.

But to ask whether some Democrats are really Republican isn't really a good question. If they choose to run as Democrats, they are Democrats. They build the Democratic majority, which give the Democrats (conservative and liberal) control of Congress, which allows us to control what legislation is introduced. So they are helping the Democratic Party, even if they vote against it on many bills.

But certainly there are Democrats who vote with the Republicans many times. Even that is misleading, though. Many do so just because that's what their electorate requires them to do, and are personally liberal. Someone like Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, for instance, is a liberal, but she could not win if she ran as a liberal in the South. She sounds and acts like a conservative, but she chooses to be a Democrat, this giving the Democrats control of the Senate, thus letting us control the committees, and lead the Senate.

It's not so simple, is what I'm saying.

[donsu]

8. yep, I recently posted about two of them

didn't save links to threads

if they talk like neo cons - they must be neo cons

[Bitwit1234]

10. You are correct about the blue dogs

every single one of them vote republican. Why would they go to the white house "in a group" to meet with bush, to listen to his orders.

[Metta]

11. See the Diane Feinstein story above.

From today's Salon.com. A excoriating reflection of a traitorous Thug in Dems clothing.