13. What people tend to forget about the Blue Dogs
is that even though the voted with the Republicans sometimes, they averaged about 80% voting WITH the Dems. Don't know about you but I'd rather have that than someone who will never vote with the Dems.
I have no prolem with a 50 state strategy that elects blue dogs. I have no problem with blue dogs advocating their positions. I have a problem when the actively work with the GOP to block the democratic majorities bills. Hold up the public option because you want to grandstand on your abortion position, sorry.
My district in Western Minnesota would rather burn down then to send a "liberal" to Congress. But Colin Peterson is a "Blue Dog" that has managed to be elected 11 times now.
If we play fantasy baseball, then we can get rid of Peterson for someone more Liberal. In the real world, that'll hand the seat over to the Republicans.
If the voters prefer real Republicans to fake ones, they prefer Republicans. This is like an admission that the voters are not so progressive. Yet the progressives wield it as though they are winning some argument.
But, I wasn't sorry to see Blanche Lincoln go. . . I felt like the blue dogs were so demoralizing to the base by preventing the Obama agenda from going forward-- not that the current crop of assholes will be an improvement.
So. . . am I happy? Not really. Do I think some of the blue dogs deserved the boot? Absolutely. However, not at the cost of the House majority.
Take it for what it's worth, but 18 of the 34 who voted against health care reform were either voted out, or who are leaving the House but could not pass their seat to a Democrat. Perhaps they were fully aware of their vulnerability. Perhaps their public disagreements in the press made voters question the D before their name and pick the better "conservative."
19. Yes, --I am sorry we lost the house. What were we gaining
with Blue Dogs. Many of them did not support Health Care and voted with Republicans. They succeeded in making our party look impotent.
Now, there are more progressive voices and this gives us an opportunity to look less dysfunctional.
Activists should team up and try to find real Democrats to run in these lost seats in 2012. Working on this would keep the Image of a Living Democratic Party alive.
33. It turned out exactly as I've been saying all along.
We lost the Blue Dogs - yay! Oh, but we also lost the House gavel AND we lost progressive too because supporters could not be unified over the past 2 years. We got what we wanted - unhappiness.
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