How did the ConservaDems in the House get the name "Blue Dogs"?

[invictus]

An uninformed person might conclude that they are "Blue" because they are Democrats, but they are "Dogs" because they serve as lapdogs/poodles for the rich corporations and lobbyists. However, there must be some other reason they chose that name.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Because when they first showed up on the scene in the mid 90s.....

... the GOP and the yellow dog democrats (which is an old term meaning that you'd vote for whatever the Democratic party ran, even if it were a yellow dog) were fighting over their votes so much that it was "choking them blue."

[ccharles000]

2. interesting

[kenny blankenship]

3. It's not as arbitrary as you might think. Their founding members discovered they had certain values

in common, traditional mores and social ideals which they summarized in their club's pledge to lick the sweat off a dead blue dog's ballsack.

Hence, "blue dogs."

[invictus]

7. They pledged to "lick the sweat off a dead blue dog's ballsack." WTF? n/t

[Mass]

4. Nothing to do with the fact they are Dems.

Remember that, before 2000, blue was not synonym of democrats.

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

Former Texas Democrat Rep. Pete Geren is credited for coining the term, explaining that the members had been "choked blue" by "extreme" Democrats from the left.<4> 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.

[olkaz]

5. here's a link that will help explain it

http://tinyurl.com/me47h5

[Old Codger]

6. It is

Because they will hold their breath and turn blue if they don't get their own way.