Trying to figure out what went wrong, and assess how we got here. Then, all of sudden it came to me

[CatWoman]

THOSE FUCKING BLUE DOGS!!!!!!

Dave Sirota pointed me to this article this afternoon:

Boot the Blue Dogs

IN 2008, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seemed to rewrite all the rules in electoral politics and herald a new progressive era in America. Democrats assembled a huge Congressional majority and, in the euphoria that followed the historic election, were poised to enact sweeping change. However, despite some notable successes — the stimulus package, health care reform, tighter rules for the financial industry — things have not gone according to plan. Just two years later, Democrats face a bad economy, a skeptical public, a re-energized Republican Party and a coming avalanche of losses in the midterm elections.

What happened? One important explanation is that divisions inside the Democratic coalition, which held together during the 2008 campaign, have come spilling out into the open. Conservative Democrats have opposed key elements of the president’s agenda, while liberal Democrats have howled that their majority is being hijacked by a rogue group of predominantly white men from small rural states. President Obama himself appears caught in the middle, unable to satisfy the many factions inside his party’s big tent.

Conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives — whose election in 2006 and 2008 enabled Nancy Pelosi to preside over a supermajority (there are 255 Democrats and 178 Republicans) — increasingly question whether she should relinquish her position as speaker. Representative Heath Shuler of western North Carolina, a leader of the restive Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats, has even hinted that he may run for her job. Representative Shuler is an unlikely candidate for leader of the party — a devout Southern Baptist who voted against the stimulus, the bank and auto bailouts and health care reform. Yet he’s exactly the kind of Democrat that the party worked very hard to recruit for public office.

In 2005, Howard Dean, who was then the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, carried out a campaign to elect as many Democrats as possible. In long-ignored red states, both Mr. Dean and Rahm Emanuel, then the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, backed conservative Democrats who broke with the party’s leadership on core issues like gun control and abortion rights. Mr. Shuler was one of Mr. Emanuel’s top recruits. The party leaders did not give much thought to how a Democratic majority that included such conservative members could ever effectively govern.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/opinion/24berman.html?_r=1

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

1. Rahm Emanuel did it.

He took the success of Howard Dean's 50 state strategy and twisted it to put a bunch of worthless Repukes in Democratic seats. :puke:

If every last Blue Dog and DLC'er up for re-election lost, we really would lose nothing. Sadly their incompetence and fraudulent impersonations of "Democrats" may well backfire on actual Democrats like Alan Grayson and Russ Feingold :(

[RKP5637]

3. Well said!!! n/t

[kelly1mm]

13. Actually, if every blue dog/DLC'er were to lose we would lose the house

(and especially the speakership) and the senate (after the next two elections). Like it or not, we seem to need them at least on the congressional level, at least for the foreseeable future.

[RKP5637]

2. Exactly IMO and why this mess has caved in on the democrats. Divided, the

democrats are doing a grave disservice to our future.

[ProSense]

4. It's right there

In 2005, Howard Dean, who was then the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, carried out a campaign to elect as many Democrats as possible. In long-ignored red states, both Mr. Dean and Rahm Emanuel, then the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, backed conservative Democrats who broke with the party’s leadership on core issues like gun control and abortion rights. Mr. Shuler was one of Mr. Emanuel’s top recruits. The party leaders did not give much thought to how a Democratic majority that included such conservative members could ever effectively govern.

With President Obama in office, some notable beneficiaries of the Democrats’ 50-state strategy have been antagonizing the party from within — causing legislative stalemate in Congress, especially in the Senate, and casting doubt on the long-term viability of a Democratic majority. As a result, the activists who were so inspired by Mr. Dean in 2006 and Mr. Obama in 2008 are now feeling buyer’s remorse.

Margaret Johnson, a former party chairwoman in Polk County, N.C., helped elect Representative Shuler but now believes the party would be better off without him. “I’d rather have a real Republican than a fake Democrat,” she said. “A real Republican motivates us to work. A fake Democrat de-motivates us.”

Ms. Johnson is right: Democrats would be in better shape, and would accomplish more, with a smaller and more ideologically cohesive caucus. It’s a sentiment that even Mr. Dean now echoes. “Having a big, open-tent Democratic Party is great, but not at the cost of getting nothing done,” he said. Since the passage of health care reform, few major bills have passed the Senate. Although the Democrats have a 59-vote majority, party leaders can barely find the votes for something as benign as extending unemployment benefits.

Dean said it himself:

DEAN: The Pro-Life candidates that I was interested in supporting were people who agreed with the Democratic platform in almost every other respect. Therefore, it's very clear, that even a Pro-Life Democrat who may disagree with us on a fundamental issue is a huge improvement over the person who was there before. So, are there some Democrats I would not support? Yes—and No I'm not gonna tell you who they are. But there are not many. Most of the Democrats who are Pro-Life—are very very good on a lot of other issues and I don't want to exclude people like that from out party.

link

[Mz Pip]

5. I was amazed that

the challenger to Boehner wasn't getting any help from the DNC. I don't know if it's like our district where Barbara Lee wins with at least 85% of the vote but she doesn't spend 185 days on the golf course and act stupid.

[Riftaxe]

6. Interesting, but just to be sure

could you list the names of the Democrats that you are hoping are defeated?

[CatWoman]

7. Riftaxe

[Tesha]

10. I'm hoping that all of the ones who have explicitly talked in their ads about "Obamacare"...

...and how strongly they opposed it are handed their walking papers.
And I expect most of them will be.

The Blue Dogs and the DLC absolutely destroyed the Democratic
"brand" by making it all-too-clear to everyone that Democrats
stand for nothing in particular; we should have ejected them
from the Party a long, long time ago.

Tesha

[loudsue]

8. That used to be what was wrong. This election, it's the Chamber of Commerce

They, or some related right wing organization, have run non-stop ads, mostly AGAINST democrats, but also FOR a few republicans. They are lying non-stop about Dems trying to take away people's social security, sending jobs overseas, etc. The deep south is seeing so many ads like this it's not even funny. Probably 10 or more per hour on each channel. The supreme court has given away our democracy.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. my poor city.

The idea of him rahming his way into office is causing distress and woe.

Unfortunately, a top contender, Sheriff Dart, popular, effective, a great leader and a decent administraton, turned down the idea of running.

Who else do we have?

Jesse Jackson Junior has no chance in hell.
Carol Mostly Wrong has no chance in hell.
I don't even know who else is running anymore.

[WillyT]

11. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

:hi:

[MadMaddie]

12. Just like Big Eddie said today about the Florida race

why is the DSCC and Bill Clinton trying to force the honest to goodness Democrate Meeks out of the race while supporting life long Republican member Christ. Christ has basically said if he made it his vote was for sale. Christ would be a Blue Dog or worse.

WTF?