Black moderates and conservatives lean Democratic

Booker Rising http://www.bookerrising.blogspot.com , a site for black moderates and conservatives, is one of my favorite blogs. As Shay (the editor) often points out most of the right-center black community is Democratic - not Republican. While there are probably still some lingering perceptions of conservative Democrats as all white Southern Dixiecrats, Democrats on the right and center are really quite diverse in terms of geography and race. Below is the post from the 01/10/06 edition of Booker Rising about Blue Dog Democrats.

What's A Blue Dog Democrat?
A Blue Dog Democrat is a moderate or conservative Democrat. While they come from every region of the United States, they are mostly associated with the South. You may have heard of the Blue Dog Coalition, which is a coalition of 37 moderate and conservative Democrats in the U.S. House. The catchy nickname is taken from the South's longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat. Coalition members argued that their moderate-to-conservative-views had been "choked blue" by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election.Rep. Sanford Bishop, Jr. (Georgia moderate), Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (Tennessee moderate-liberal), and Rep. David Scott (Georgia moderate) are black members of the Blue Dog Coalition. Note that they are all from the South.There are also Blue Dog Democratic blogs. And contrary to popular opinion, most black conservatives are Blue Dog Democrats and not Republican (the latter group is simply far more vocal....although this is starting to change), although their support for the Democratic Party is starting to erode. This is a keen example of a black conservative Democratic blogger: much harsher on liberals that this blog ever is, is religious, staunchly supports the war in Iraq and war on terrorism, but staunchly opposes the death penalty and gay marriage and supports affirmative action. I grew up in what what was surely a Blue Dog Democratic black family (believed in gun ownership, big on the military, believed welfare benefits undermined work ethic, support for the death penalty, opposition to abortion and gay rights, but supportive of unions and affirmative action), before the term arose. This probably describes much of my family today.
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Thanks to Shay for shining the spotlight on the Blue Dogs. For more information about Blue Dog Democrats, there is a good Wikipedia article at http://tinyurl.com/7amw4