Why Right Democrat No Longer Calls Himself a "Blue Dog Democrat"

As a Southerner, many in my family once regarded themselves as "Yellow Dog Democrats." If you are a Democrat from a red state like me who is populist on economics and traditionalist on social issues, then you must be a "Blue Dog." For a long time, I reluctantly accepted the "Blue Dog" Democrat label. The "Blue Dog" moniker always struck me as too much of a quaint Southernism that might be confused with the old "Dixiecrat" label. "Mainstream Democrat" or "Populist" seemed like a better description but I went along with my fellow grassroot populist-social traditionalist Dems who think of themselves as Blue Dogs. During the 2006 election, Blue Dog Democrats were widely described in the media as being the kind of pro-life, pro-gun rights, anti-illegal immigration and anti-globalization types who could make our party competitive again in the red states.

My research into the voting records of many of the Blue Dog Democrats made me skeptical. A couple of years ago, all but three of the members of the Blue Dog Caucus voted for a bankruptcy bill that was in the interests of credit card companies and not working families. I also noticed that only group photo of Blue Dog Caucus members on their website was taken on Wall Street. http://www.bluedogdems.com/what.html Some of the Blue Dogs in Congress had records of support for abortion rights and favored amnesty for illegal aliens. The main focus of the Blue Dogs was always deficit reduction which is important but the caucus also failed to take a position on many other issues critical to our nation's survival. I discovered that some of the most conservative Democrats in Congress chose not to join the Blue Dog Coalition and that a center-right Democrat like Nancy Boyd of Kansas (who has shown far more courage on the illegal immigration issue than most Blue Dogs) was rejected for membership. Our Congressional Blue Dogs seemed to have very different agenda than most grassroots Blue Dogs.

After the 2006 election, I had high hopes that Democrats would again become the party of working families and embrace economic populism. The vote on the Peru "free trade" agreement suggests otherwise. A review of the roll call suggests that only 116 House Democrats will stand up for America's workers while 103 House Democrats are clearly in the pocket of Wall Street. In fairness, it should be pointed out that only 16 Republicans dared to challenge Wall Street in the latest "free trade vote" while 176 Republicans are clearly controlled by big business. There is little hope that any genuine economic populist movement could influence the Republican Party but a large number of Democrats are also under corporate control. See roll call vote

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/APW/711080705&template=apart

How did the Congressional Blue Dogs vote on "free trade" ? 30 members of the Blue Dog Caucus voted to send more of our jobs to Peru. 15 members of the Blue Dog Coalition were willing to oppose Wall Street and voted no. Two Blue Dogs decided to go fishing and didn't vote. I was especially disappointed with the yes vote by newly elected Congressman Brad Ellsworth of Indiana - previously thought to be one of a new breed of Democrats who mix populism with mainstream values.

To their credit, some Congressional Blue Dogs like Mike Michaud of Maine and Gene Taylor of Mississippi (who represents the most Republican district served by a Democrat in Congress) have consistently defended American workers and newly elected Heath Shuler of North Carolina votes like a real populist. But there are twice as many Congressional Blue Dogs who are puppets on the string of corporate America. I will not advocate the defeat of the "Wall Street" Dogs (as they would likely be replaced by "Wall Street" Republicans) but they certainly fail to represent my vision of what the Democratic Party or even red state Democrats should be. That's why Right Democrat has printed his last Blue Dog Coalition news release and no longer calls himself a "Blue Dog" Democrat.