Betsy Markey and John Salazar are were Blue Dog Democrats in the House. Their professed reason for calling themselves Democrats, yet voting for and with Republicans throughout their tenure, was to "vote their district"; that is, to vote for the bills that the many undecideds and Republicans in their district would want so they would re-elect their faithful dog the next time out. That foolish DC Beltway "truism" was proved wrong once twice more when both Markey and Salazar were booted out of office for not being Republican and not voting like a Democrat.
That's what Blue Dogs do, and that's why Blue America has been working against this insidious Blue Dog species - and more often than should be the case - the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee), to get these people out of office and prevent them from harming Democrats and the Democratic brand further.
Blue America took on another Blue Dog in Pennsylvania recently and sent Tim Holden packing. They went after this "Democrat" because he supported Republican Speaker Boehner's agenda an astonishing 64%, has been virulently anti-Choice, anti-gay and anti-health care, and routinely supported the Republicans on just about every other critical issue.
A Democrat, who will truly vote his district, and will hold to Democratic principles to boot, won the PA primary against Blue Dog Holden yesterday. Here's AMERICAblog's take:
U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, Pennsylvania's longest-serving congressman, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary[.] ... Holden, who was elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of its conservative, so-called Blue Dog Democrats, lost Tuesday to personal injury attorney Matt Cartwright, who spent nearly $400,000 in the race.
A lot of that money came from BlueAmerica. Here's Howie Klein, BlueAmerica treasurer (and all-around Great Guy, Music Industry Legend, and Progressive Congressional Expert - Z), on the victory: Something very rare happened tonight, something that will send a chill down the spines of members of the Democratic establishment: a true blue progressive unseated a tired Blue Dog congressman. We were told it was impossible. Pennsylvania's Matt Cartwright just proved them all wrong. ...
They had a choice and they chose the progressive candidate who would stand up for working families instead of corporations and who believes that individual liberty applies to women as well as men.
Markey and Salazar, if they mattered, would dismiss Blue America's strategy here. But they never seemed to understand that most Republicans in Colorado would never vote for a Democrat even if they were to vote 100% with Republicans in Congress. That's the undeniable glitch in the Blue Dog philosophy.
Real Democrats, in the form of Blue America and Democratic voters around the country, are running the Blue Dogs out of congress one by one. Republicans will attack any that Blue America misses. It'd be a benefit to the nation if those remaining public servants who have a (D) behind their names would learn the message of that increasingly rare, yet not extinct, congressional breed, The Blue Dog Democrat. |
