Blue Dogs

Related to article on Shuler's whining recently. Add this to the list of heavy burdens for 2012 and going forward--unless and if the Republicans and their white Tea Party friends really screw up.

Defections reflect the Democrats' drubbing in the midterm election and Republicans' consolidation of power in the South

Since the midterm election, 24 state senators and representatives have made the switch in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

In some cases, the ramifications have been profound: In Louisiana, defecting Democrats gave Republicans a majority in the state House for the first time since Reconstruction; in Alabama, they delivered the GOP a House supermajority. Republicans have 65 votes to the Democrats' 39, enough to pass constitutional amendments over Democratic opposition.

In a telephone interview yesterday McIntyre answered questions about his victory over Ilario Pantano and his plans for the remainder of the year in Washington and his political aspirations.

When asked about supporting Nancy Pelosi he said:

It's time to turn the page and go into a different direction with fresh ideas, new leadership and one who unites. We need a leader who is a uniter. Clearly, Ms. Pelosi is not that person.

I wonder if he thinks Heath Shuler is that person? More below the fold....

With the mid-term elections over the Monday morning quarterbacking has begun. Many within the Democratic Party are looking for answers as to why so many blue dog Democrats were swept away in the Republican tsunami of 2010.

Heath Shuler offers his ring for kissing planting himself squarely in opposition to Nancy Pelosi in a run for Minority Leader in the House. My friend, Larry Kissell, also opposes Pelosi despite the fact it was her leadership that played at least a small role in ushering him into office in 2008. Blue Dogs lost well over half of their members yet for some reason - possibly arrogance - they think they can lead the party forward. I have one thing to say to that.

Heh

PS...I'm delighted that both Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell will be returning to Washington. They mirror their districts and must be doing a good job or they would not have won reelection in this climate.

Any close watcher of the sausage-making in Washington and Raleigh has witnessed first-hand the general impotence of progressive voices. From where I sit, they are largely irrelevant, having not much impact on agenda-setting, and even less on actual public policy.

Someone wrote a while back that progressives in both the North Carolina and US Senate would have much more clout if the two chambers were more evenly divided. A big Democratic majority, the writer argued, means that small factions have no influence. If the margin were cut to one or two seats, progressive votes would be much more valuable. Then again, so would the votes of our Blue Dog equivalents.

I'm not holding my breath for a strong progressive front in Raleigh, or in Washington. Because even when they have votes, it's not clear they know how to use them.

Politico reports Heath Shuler and the rest of the Blue Dogs are ready to kill the jobs bill because it requires a waver of the pay-go rules and would slightly increase the deficit. I guess Heath thinks that a decade of double digit unemployment is better than growing the deficit. He must have flunked Macro Econ in college. The Blue Dogs and the rest of the neo-Hooverites are determined to replay the Great Depression.

P.S. There are plenty of economist who are saying that a short term increase of the deficit by a jobs bill will actually decrease the deficit in the long run, by putting people back to work and returning tax revenues back to normal. Don't forget that 1/3 to 1/2 of the existing deficit is from decreased tax revenues caused by the economy cratering.

The goal of the local and state party organization is to elect Democrats to public office. Yet it seems that many of us who serve as precinct and county party officers are much more progressive than are many of the candidates we are obligated to support and work for come election time.

Back in 2006, I was thrilled and honored to spend several hours volunteering during the campaign to get Chainsaw Charlie Taylor sent back to his timber operations and Russian banks. We knew that Heath Shuler was not in any way a progressive, but we were encouraged by his enlightened environmental stances, and were hopeful that his "fiscal conservative" bent would be used for good rather than evil.

One of the best articles I've read on Blue Dogs appeared recently in The Nation. Here's a couple brief excerpts:

The Blue Dogs come largely from rural and Southern districts, and often campaign by distancing themselves from the national party. Their support comes from voters who are conservative on social issues like guns and abortion. But on bread-and-butter concerns, these legislators are voting with their contributors, not their constituents.

Here are a set of contributions to Kay Hagan from OpenSecrets. The essence of this is: Kay was paid a lot from Democratic/liberal sources for her to now begin maneuvering to center-center thinking to make points with Republicans for cross-over "bipartisanship"? She forgets perhaps the shabby and harsh treatment of Democrats, no matter how well deserved, by Republicans for the past 10 years. Treatment which helped cause our current economic and political woes.

Democratic/Liberal $1,807,286
Women's Issues $474,659
Retired $438,588
Lawyers/Law Firms $391,109
Leadership PACs $246,600
Real Estate $171,432
Securities & Investment $151,676
Misc Business $109,074

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00029617"

A partial list of the Democrats in the Senate who have joined Evan Bayh's "New Blue Dog Coalition" has been released at MSNBC's First Read.

"Leading the new group are Democratic Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas... [O]thers joining the group are Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mark Udall of Colorado, and Mark Warner of Virginia."

The mission of these Dems is that they are "....seeking to restrain the influence of party liberals".