General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: You know those Blue Dog democrats everyone hated? [View all]OmahaBlueDog
(10,000 posts)and Democrats in the House and Senate (even we "Blue Dogs" support the Democratic leadership, meaning that Joe Manchin's presence helps support keeping Reid & Durbin in the Senate leadership instead of having President Pro Tem McConnell. Accepting Joe Manchin as a Democrat means accepting him with shortcomongs; in WV, you have to be pro-coal and pro-gun to be elected. If your view is that only a true progressive is acceptable, then you'll end up with a Republican Senator in that seat. That's reality at this time. Nebraska had Ben Nelson. Ben was far from perfect. He voted with the Republicans far too often for my taste, but (again) his presence helped support keeping Reid & Durbin in the Senate leadership instead of having President Pro Tem McConnell. Keeping Ben would have been a vast improvement over Deb Fischer.
I consider myself a Blue Dog principally because I do support balanced budgets. Where I differ from Republicans is that I don't believe hurting our most vulnerable through draconian budget cuts is the means to reach that end. Sensible tax policy that recognizes that those making more should pay more, and an end to a lot of misguided tax loopholes would be a first, big step.