should the democratic party disallow the blue dog coalition?

[spanone]

...here's their statement on their own website....

Welcome to the Blue Dog Coalition website!

The fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1995 with the goal of representing the center of the House of Representatives and appealing to the mainstream values of the American public.
The Blue Dogs are dedicated to a core set of beliefs that transcend partisan politics, including a deep commitment to the financial stability and national security of the United States. Currently there are 51 members of the Blue Dog
Coalition.

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


to say they represent the 'center of the house of representatives'

to say they appeal to 'the mainstream values of the american public'

to say that 'they are dedicated to a core set of beliefs that transcend partisan politics'

to say they have a 'deep commitment to the financial stability and nation security of the united states'

TO SAY THAT THEY REPRESENT THESE THINGS IMPLIES THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOES NOT.

it seems like being a 'member' of the middle of the road party only makes you an easier target for the lobbyists....


:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:

[mmonk]

1. Their power in the party should be relegated to their number.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. This picture represents the equivalent of a Blue Dog "Democrat"

[spanone]

4. now that's funny

[cali]

3. as it's not within the realm of possibility, what's the point of the discussion?

[spanone]

5. everything is possible.

[cali]

6. OK, but some things are vanishingly unlikely. This is one of them. same difference really.

[spanone]

7. i don't think so, but you do.

[cali]

21. I KNOW that the dem party won't kick out the blue dogs. period.

I'm as sure of that as i am about anything in this world.

[spanone]

23. i didn't ask if they would. i asked if they should. i doubt they will but i think they should.

[MarjorieG]

8. Some legit conservative from likewise districts, others lobbyist's pets; I think we can distinguish

which, coax them differently, and make the financial argument (while keeping what we need, I hope). Divide and conquer, getting the votes. As for Commerce, and Ross, that's clearly beyond Medicare concerns in his state. It's personal proit for him.

We should bypass Commerce if unreasonable, because that goes back to probelms in '93 with both Commerce and Finance getting out of committee. Better ammo and support this time.

[WillowTree]

9. What exactly are you asking? Disallow them from doing what?

Or did you mean "disavow", which is entirely different?

[spanone]

12. shoud a party have another party 'within' that is working against their policies?

disallow....now allow them to form this party, if they wish to call themselves democrats and take democratic monies for their campaigns

[WillowTree]

14. In that case, the Party Democrats won't throw them out for the same reason...

....that the Republican party doesn't do the same thing to people like Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.

Say the Party throws the 52 "blue dogs" out and they decide to officially become Republicans. Who's the Speaker of the House then? Who controls the committees?

[Davis_X_Machina]

20. You know...

...they say the same thing about the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

[Cleita]

10. No, but the people who voted for them thinking that they would be

different than electing a Republican need to present new, more progressive candidates to run against them in the next primaries.

[sharp_stick]

15. The reason they win as blue dog Dems

is that they are more conservative but not batshit birther/limpball loving conservative. In many if not all of the blue dog districts if a more liberal candidate wins the primary the puke will win the election.

Try running somebody like Ted Kennedy in Jon Testers place and see how far he gets.

I disagree with a lot of what the blue dogs propose but not enough that I'd punt them so we can see another puke in Congress.

[mnhtnbb]

11. Seems to me they want to be identified Dem but behave like Repubs.

Money is their primary value.

[stray cat]

13. Is that constitutional - and would the repubs welcome them to their party?

it sounds like a suicidal move for the democrats - in other words a typical democratic idea I guess.

[notesdev]

16. Depends

Do you like the sound of "Speaker Boehner"?

[spanone]

17. i'm not sure they would all become republicans given the choice.

a percentage perhaps?

[WillowTree]

18. If even half went over to the other side, the Dems would lose their majority.

Do you want to take that chance? Would you promise not to criticize the Party if it happened?

[Davis_X_Machina]

19. 256 -- the House Democratic caucus today --

minus 50 or 51 members of the BDC, equals 206 Representatives where you need 219 for a majority.

Oh, yeah, it's a great idea.

[TexasObserver]

22. As LBJ said, "if you want to be in politics, you'd better be able to count."

Complaining about Democrats in congress who were elected by voters in another jurisdiction is a waste of time. They get to elect their people, and you get to elect yours.

All this energy and effort vilifying the Blue Dog Democrats is based upon an absurdity: that they can be replaced by liberal Democrats.

We need a majority in both houses of congress to control the leadership. I'll take ANY Democrat in either house to achieve that goal. Would you rather have those seats held by Republicans? This thought that removing Blue Dogs will lead to having more Dennis Kucinich Democrats in the congress is sheer delusion. If they are replaced, it will be by another blue dog Democrat or a Republican.

Here's a simple lesson in real democracy: Don't expect your values to be reflected in the congress members from conservative districts. The best we will ever get from such districts is a Democrat who votes wrong half the time or more. And you know what? That's a half a loaf that is better than no loaf at all.

I don't like their votes, either, but our problem is weakness at the top of the party. It's on Obama, Reid and Pelosi to get this done, and they should lean on individual congress members to get the votes needed, making deals or using sanctions that will get that done.

[Tim01]

24. All blue dogs should be replaced with republicans. nt