If Only Blue Dogs and RINOs Could Breed!
By Steve_in_KC on September 23, 2009 at 8:30 AM in Current Affairs
This is not a news piece. This is just my opinion. I do not speak for the staff of No Quarter, nor the majority of readers, because this blog is not of one mind. A recent discussion among the writers revealed that there are few things on which we universally agree! The one thing we do agree about is our mutual admiration for each other. And nobody seems to like Obama.
Other than those things, we all pretty much have our own axes to grind, our own gored oxen, and our own hopes for the future. Everybody’s different (except me).
I’ve always been a left-leaning Indy, but mostly voted Democratic until very recently. Most of the Republicans I like are considered RINOS (Republicans In Name Only), like John McCain and Olympia Snowe, who are more liberal than mainstream Republicans. The Democrats I like most right now are the Blue Dog Democrats, who tend to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I also consider conservative Democrats to be allies in the cause of unseating the Obama faction of the party.
I’ve often commented in my posts here at NQ that I support the idea of a new political party for centrists, even favoring the name “Centrist Party.” In the spirit of “truth in advertising,” I think it’s appropriate that the current major parties change their names to the Conservative Party and the Progressive Party. It’s so completely rational and reasonable a concept, it’s probably doomed from the get-go.
The reason this will likely never happen? The Centrist Party would draw all the intelligent (moderate) politicos from the other two parties, making it undefeatable!
You know the primary reason I so admire the Blue Dogs and the RINOs? They have more guts than any politicians I can think of. They have the bravery to go against the party bosses. They have the principles to stand up for what they believe is right, regardless of pressure from their peers. And they have the temerity to represent their constituents instead of caving to the browbeating of their parties’ binary group-think. They are the voices of moderation and bipartisanship, qualities woefully lacking in today’s polarized politics.
Ideologically, the Blue Dogs would seem to be right up my alley, almost enough to make me reconsider being a Democrat. Almost. If they became the majority in their party, I’d probably join. I just don’t see it happening, so I can make that statement without fear of being held to it!
The phrase Blue Dog Democrat is sometimes tossed around as a common epithet or label for everyday people. The phrase can be taken to include those who agree with these Congressional rebels, but as a matter of definition, they are a distinct group of people in Congress.
According to Wikipedia:
The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is a group of currently 52 moderate and conservative Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives…
The Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1994 during the 104th Congress to give more conservative members from the Democratic party a unified voice after the Democrats’ loss of Congress in 1994…
In the summer of 2009, The Economist magazine said “[t]he debate over health care… may be the pinnacle of the group’s power so far” and quoted Charlie Stenholm, a founding Blue Dog, as saying that “this is the first year for the new kennel in which their votes are really going to make a difference.”
The biggest single source of finance for the Blue Dog Political Action Committee is the health care industry. They donated $1.2 million dollars in the 2009-10 election cycle. In July 2009, Blue Dog members who were committee members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee successfully delayed the House vote on the Health Insurance Reform Bill (HR32)) until after the Summer Recess.
And here’s the main reason I support the Blue Dogs, from the same Widipedia article:
The Blue Dog Coalition is often involved in finding a compromise between liberal and conservative positions. The Blue Dogs are viewed by some as a continuation of the socially conservative wing of the Democratic party prominent during the presidency of Harry S Truman. However, the only stated policy position of the Blue Dogs is fiscal conservatism.
Despite the Blue Dogs’ differing degrees of economic and social conservatism, they generally work to promote positions within the House of Representatives that bridge the gap between center-right and left-wing politics. Blue Dogs are an important swing vote on spending bills and as a result have gained influence in Congress out of proportion to their numbers. They are frequently sought after to broker compromises between the Democratic and Republican leadership, generally lending a more centrist character to US politics.
As for the RINO’s, that phrase is generally used as a negative epithet, and no Republicans are known to apply that label to themselves. There are, however, several groups within the Republican Party who are not in the Conservative mold of most Republicans. The group that most resembles and is often compared to the Blue Dog Democrats is called the Republican Main Street Partnership, or RMSP.
They are political moderates in the Republican Party, and are often likely to vote with the Democrats on liberal issues.
According to Wikipedia (again):
The Republican Main Street Partnership was formed following the 1994 House elections, in which conservative Republicans were swept into power. An informal discussion group formed by Representatives Nancy Johnson, Steve Gunderson, and Fred Upton later became somewhat of an organized bloc with the intent on representing the moderate wing of the Republican Party. The partnership is currently composed of moderates such as Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe; some members would fit most of the criteria of a conservative, such as Thad McCotter, Dean Heller, and Brian Bilbray. Members of the group are often labeled as RINO’s by conservatives and are often challenged in Republican primaries by the Club for Growth.
The Republican Main Street Partnership has allied with other moderate Republican groups, including Christine Todd Whitman’s It’s My Party Too, Ann Stone’s Republicans for Choice, the Log Cabin Republicans, the Republican Majority For Choice, The Wish List, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and the Kansas Traditional Republican Majority.
In May 2005, the Republican Main Street Partnership helped pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act in the House Of Representatives; 50 Republicans voted in support of the bill, which passed 238-194.
Now if only these RINOs and Blue Dogs would get together and form a Centrist Party, we might once again have a political party that we could get behind, perhaps even join. I know, it’s not likely to happen, but it just makes so much sense!
Of course, that’s exactly why it won’t happen!
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chuckle chuckle chuckle
I guess that’s what happened with my Mom and Dad although they called themselves DEM & PUG (they said) so each of them could vote out the WORST of the WORST from each (hopefully) B4 they made it to PRIME TIME!
so what do we call the offspring of such unions?
chuckle – wait do I really want to know?
Err, John McCain is a RINO? He was the Republican presidential nominee. You don’t get much better than that when it comes to party membership.
McCain was given the nomination because the Republicans believed the only candidate they could nominate that had a chance, after 8 years of Neocons, would have to be someone who could pull votes from Dems and Indies. McCain fit the bill.
I believe the consensus of most pundits is that McCain lost largely because “true Republican” voters considered him a major RINO and wouldn’t vote for him, so they stayed home, which is unusual for them in general.
Since there is no RINO Registry, it’s not a true political group, it’s an epithet. Republicans consider it an insult. My use of it in this piece is intended as flattery!
ok so the sky must be falling because HUFFPO actually printed a decent article about Sarah’s trip to China!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cameron-sinclair/following-palin_b_295686.html
perhaps the pendulum is in full return swing afterall
and I believe Sarah is the conservative braking system we need!
She’s setting herself apart as the Braveheart gal… “It’s not about government solutions, for us it’s all about freedom.”
Well to me…WOW
Truly sad how the HuffPo people are responding to Palin in the article. For all their superiority about how much less “racist” they are than the flyover people, they sure like to show their misogyny when they go ON and ON about how supposedly “stupid” Palin is.
The day Sarah Palin goes beyond just trashing the current system and actually proposes new solutions will be the day I begin to respect her. She’s all talk. “Americans love freedom.” Yes, we do. So what? She criticizes the bailouts, but to my knowledge we’ve never heard a word from her about what she would have done instead? Let all of Wall Street and the insurance industry go under? Let the world return to the Dark Ages?
She is truly unserious as a politician. And the fact that she quit her job as soon as the downturn put stress on Alaska’s budget speaks volumes.
Honestly, I don’t believe the woman will ever even work hard enough, or acquire sufficient intellectual heft, to host a radio show or a Fox show like Beck. I think she will give highly paid corporate speeches that she can read off (yes) a teleprompter. The speech circuit alone will make her a multimillionaire, and god bless her and her family, I hope they’re secure. If she gets it together do anything more ambitious than that, though, I would be very surprised.
And no, my opinion has nothing to do with her gender. I hope and at least half-respect that Secretary Clinton will be the next president of the United States, in 2016.
Answer the charge made by Hillary or Bust, twit. Your constant changing of the subject away from issues that we would cream you over has not gone unnoticed.
And, in case you don’t read since you seem to spend all your time listening to the voices in your pinhead that zero angels could dance on, thus ending that philosophical argument, HRC has said she won’t run and I take her at her word. Too bad you can’t take your BOTUS at his word, huh?
When did HRC say she will never run for the presidency? If she did say that, you’re right, I missed it. But I’m not sure how I’ve changed the subject; I was responding to a post about Sarah Palin. And if you have any seriousness to you at all, which I doubt, you’ll answer my question: what exactly (just to take one example) has Governor Palin ever proposed instead of the bailouts which she claims to believe hurt the U.S. economy so badly?
And if you can’t name anything, why on earth should we take her comments about the bailout seriously?
propose? I am sure she’s keeping her ideas to herself.
Saves it from being stolen we all know how that works right?
What Hillary said!
You didn’t respond to Hillary of Bust’s comments, you illiterate, uneducated boob. Until you answer the charges of misogyny leveled, you’re just another subject-changing, blame-shifting, cheeto-eating, beanie-wearing, 12-year chubby-cheeked basement dweller with a pissed off Mom.
You have no room to speak to the issue subtlety since you come to a blog where you’re not only not welcome but are considered a silly-ass troll, which is not only not subtle, but boorish bot behavior. You and your kind a worth about a nickel a post. Go spend your loot on some candy, kid.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
LOL Katmoon–the Troll Wars rage on:
Ya better tell the truth this time, ya hammer-headed mackerel. And if’n you don’t I’m a gonna count to one and start blastin’!!!
Can’t wait until Ferd takes on the Frumious Bandersnatch . . .
No Quarter!
Callooh! Callay! ROFL!! As long as he washes the nasty Bandersnatch goobies off of him!
I’ll keelhaul that buck-tooth barracuda, too.
Yeah, Yosemite Sam–
The roughest toughest HeMan-stuffest hombre that’s ever crossed the Rio Grandee. And i don’t mean Mahatma Gandhi. Now all you skunks better clear outta here!
I do not consider myself a blue dog Democrat because my perception of them is that they are socially conservative. And, when the chips are down they don’t have much of a history of standing up to the party leadership.
I associate myself with the Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC), currently led by Harold Ford, and made famous by Bill Clinton. They need some animal to associate with so that they get more attention than the blue dogs. (PUMA has already been taken, but look how powerful that image was last year in uniting people).
I agree, J.J. The Blue Dogs are socially conservative. That aligns them more with the Republicans than the center.
I’m actually looking for politicians that are fiscally conservative and socially liberal, but these guys don’t fit.
Larry, I consider myself an independent that leans towards the Democrats on social issues and the Republicans on foreign policy and defense issues. I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries. The Blue Dogs will stand up for what they believe, and they are not gung ho about Obama’s health care plan. I sincerely believe this country is a moderate country. The problem with both parties is that they listen too much to the base, and go overboard. The Republicans ruined the country the last eight years under Bush the criminal, and now the Democrats are overreaching with health care. The Democrats will go overboard just like the Republicans, guaranteed. This country would be a whole lot better off with moderates in charge.
I’m also a proud member of the DLC.
Dear Gary,
I think I’m in love.
Awwwwww!!!!! (blushes)
Mike Ross is the head of the Blue Dogs in the House and until the politics got harder for him in August he was on the record favoring a public option. Now he’s against it, and he’ll claim that’s on account of principle. Don’t make me laugh. The Blue Dogs are a joke. They are even more sold out to lobbyists and large swing-district corporate contributors than the average Congressman, which is saying something.
Gee, Prime Obutt, you could be talking about your master, the BOTUS, you know, little snip, the one who gave away the farm to the pharmaceuticals. But your selective indignation, which is dwarfed only by your dogmatic ignorance, fails to acknowledge that little pesky fact.
I’d say the only other one who sells out more than That One is you, dink. Take your bottle of Arkansas Wagon Varnish, otherwise known as Thunderbird, which you purchased from the funds earned by bothering us here with your boorish prattle, and go tie one on with your other bots on skid row.
Sold out, indeed. What a stupid little troll you are.
Dude, I keep telling you, your insult machine is boring. You try too hard and say too little. You have zero evidence to back up your assertions that I am “sold out.” Except my self-chosen username, which is meant ironically, and my comments. Yet you proudly write this stuff and clearly feel like you’ve put me in place. What is the justification? What is your point?
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wade;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
You want to start in about boring, you shiftless crap artist? You come here day in and day-out with your prepackaged, prefabricated pablum designed with an eye towards gullible fools like you, and then you absolutely insist on parading around your demonstrable and verifiable ignorance by actually REPEATING (on a web presence that is on to you and your silly one-act farce) the crap you got off your PowerPoint presentation give you at botcamp.
You have nothing blowhard but your own dreck to blame for the treatment you get here.
A word to the wise, Chester (I know, that’s not an adjective that describes you in even the slightest way)–beat it.
Excuse my generalities, but I agree that NQ writers are individuals.
Some seem willing to cut Obama some slack, some might meet him half-way, some expect more from his policies, and some are hell-nos.
Until this election, I was a centrist democrat. No more!
Even the Blue Dogs lose the scent, when their “money” bowl is empty!
sassy, I agree. I don’t know where I fit anymore.
Here is a place you might fit!! The United Patriots Party. go to their startup website at
http://www.birthofaparty.com
Dear Steve in KC: Thanks for this interesting article. Having been a “loyal democrat” all my life, up to May 31, 2008 when the DNC broke its rules and disenfranchised us by stealing the primary for Obama, I now consider myself a “DD” which I term Disenchanted Democrat. I am more of a centrist, in the tradition of Bill Clinton, being fiscally responsible and more socially liberal. Since election 2008 I realize republicans have good ideas too (did not know that when I was a “loyal democrat”). I would love to be part of a Centrist Party as my votes are up for grabs; I will no longer vote for someone just because they have a “D” in front of their name, and will never vote for someone who has a B&O for his initials.
Where I stand politically has not changed. Some people here need to understand that it is the Democratic Party that has changed. That doesn’t mean you have become more conservative but that your party has become more conservative, more Republican, more corporatist for the sake of electing an empty suit who happens to be half black.
I refuse to join the Republican Party because they’ve always been just as bad as the Dems are NOW. I think it will be very hard to change things but this needs to be a grassroots effort on the part of everyone here (who aligns more liberal than moderate or conservative). We need to elect people based on their record, not just campaign promises which the Obots foolishly believed.
If you always found yourself to be more Libertarian or RINO/blue Dem, I don’t know what you should do other than to vote Libertarian to push the Republican party more towards that kind of conservative ideology. But I am not a Libertarian and never will be so my only option is to fight against DINOS like Obama and help liberal Dems get elected into office.
You have another option…go to birthofaparty.com and see a party that sounds like you.
United Patriots Party. Help them fight Obama.
Went to the site. This sounds just like what we need. I agree that THIS is the silent majority. It is actually kinda brilliant to start up a moderate party.
HERE IS A THIRD PARTY STARTING UP THAT IS LIKE A BLUE DOG DEMOCRAT PARTY!!!!
Has anyone seen it? THE UNITED PATRIOTS PARTY. Go to birthofaparty.com They are fiscally conservative and lean socially liberal. I think most of America is in this category.
Steve in KC, looks like you got your wish. They did breed and their baby is a party called The UNITED PATRIOTS PARTY. It sounds JUST what you are talking about. http://www.birthofaparty.com is their website. They need help building this up, Contact them!
Like Gary, I too lean towards the Democrats on social issues and the Republicans on foreign policy and defense issues. Every four years I picked the candidate that said the things I most agreed with, and that I believed to be the best choice to get things done.
I always voted Democrat until 2008.
I too don’t like that the extremes of either party have so much control.
I am all for a moderate party or moderate Independent candidates. But first, we need campaign finance reform!
I also kind of agree with Bobo that it is the party that changed. That is what I thought at first, but I now believe that it was just really good at bamboozling me for years and years. I always believed the hype that they were the party of the poor, and that they *cared*. But, why the heck are the poor still so poor. I don’t think they have done much to help….if anything I think they have purposely kept them poor.
I also don’t know if I would call McCain a Rino… I just think he has some areas where he is not as right as some others in the party, and I would consider him more centrist, but I still think he is conservative.
I don’t like the influence the church has on the right. I would probably be much more right if the weren’t so tied to the church.
All that said, the current Democrats make me sick. I am disgusted with everything I saw and experienced these past two years. I may still be socially liberal, but i am NOT a Democrat. (and I’m STILL waiting for Donna Brazile to quit!)
Great post Steve, lots of fun stuff to discuss!!
The last, best chance for a third party was Ross Perot. Unfortunately for the movement, he turned out to be crazy. Of course, in today’s political environment, he would fit right in. “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”
I long for a party whose members believe in science, reason and rationality. Not ideology. I also hope for a return to citizen government and away from professional politicians more concerned with re-election, vunerable to being bought by campaign contributions. And loyalty to country should trump loyalty to party.
It is a dream I have.
I agree.
But Steve, it CAN happen. If there was ever a time in this country’s history, this is the time. Many Republicans don’t feel their party represents them. Many Democrats feel the same way. If there was a third VIABLE party I know SO many people who would abandon their parties SO FAST! We should try because NOW is the time.
Thanks Steve for the article. Perhaps this will be a time of “change”. What happened on May 31st within the Democratic Party has changed me forever. Boy, did that open my eyes. Up until the year 2008, I considered myself a Democrat through and through. Not anymore. However, there is no way I can consider myself a Republican. Between the influence of the church, and the rabid, “you aren’t a patriot, unless you support the war” commentary, the Republican Party just isn’t me. I have tried to listen to Limbaugh, and I can agree with him when he puts down Obama, but he loses me when he blames all of the ills of the world, and the United States on Democrats. Let’s get real, GWB was a real screw-up. A third party sounds great. My admiration for those individuals in Congress who do not toe the party line, has grown immensely.
beachnan, I agree with everything you said! Fits me to a tee, except that I never registered as a Dem. And you’re right, May 31st changed everything!!!
I really enjoyed watching the show “Northern Exposure” because it showed an Alaska town that from the outside looking in seemed like they were a bunch of back woods hicks yet they were actually above the norm in education, understanding of complex issues and accepting of new ideas.
Ginger, what a wild coincidence that you mention this show! I watched the whole series twice in syndication about ten years ago, then recently I persuaded my wife to watch it for the first time, so we have been using Netflix for that purpose, renting the whole series at one DVD a week. We’re in Season Five now.
I agree with your observation completely. The drawls and backwoodsiness belie the complex philosophical and intellectual personalities of the show.
I’m not quite sure what you are responding to by bringing up Northern Exposure, though. Something to do with Alaska or Sarah Palin above?
OOps. Yes, looks like it didn’t seat.
I hate tosay but a thrid party in 2012 means 4 more years of OBama. And will be honest, i’m fed the hell up with my fellow Amiericans after eight years of Bush. I have never seen a group of people so damn desperate to hang themselves. AS much as you dislike Republicans the real issue is whether you think this country can survive another 4 years of voting booth stupidity. What Americans need to do is to remiind our politicians that their job is to represent you and the second they forget that you kick them out of office. The aver age american only pays attention to what their representatives are doing every four years tops, and then wonders why they don’t respect or listen to what you have to say. The people of Delaware know Joe Biden is a lying little troll, and yet he was in the senate for over twenty years. Something wrong with this picture? And it’s not on the part of JOe Biden.
WHile i have always tilted left, until i realized how hypocritical they were, I’ve alway known straight ticket voting was stupid. And i also knew that the reason why the people in washington clusterf*** us is because the average American citizen is mentally lazy and negligent and pays no attention to how their politician votes 90% of the time. IFuther more I was slapped into the reality of how stupid the average “miniorty” group is as they sit around taking abuse and humilation from a party who is suppose to have their best interest at heart and as long as you dont people placed on the courts who wont over turn a court ruling you place the abusive racist sexist, and hompohbic nut jobs back into office even after they insult your intillgence and brush off your causes. They are rewarded with loyalty all the while selling you out and tell you to be happy about it.
Normally I wouldn’t care who people voted for, but let’s behonest, you get this wrong again, and we are royally fracked so unless you have a third party canidiate that can win, i suggest you forget it, or either wait until after we get Obama out of office. Bur right now the Donkey and the Elephant are screwing you because you are letting them.
I agree, kgirl. A third party bid at this point merely guarantees 8 years of Obama. And after 8 years of GW, God knows what state the country will be in by 2016.
I went up to the site, this “new” party. Didn’t see much of substance there, rather a rehash of the 9/12 declaration of principles and values and a discontent with the “powers that be.” I’d say that discontent describes most posters at NQ. But a viable political party it ain’t.
The GOP is making a lot of noise right now, hoping that all this anger will push them into the WH and take back Congress. But until a decent candidate emerges [if that's possible] they’re still flailing around with the same tired message. People have short memories, but I still remember Bush&Co and the six, lo-o-ong years that the Republicans owned the candy store. That doesn’t mean the Dems were any better because they weren’t and aren’t.
From now on, I vote candidate only. Unlike you, I did not see the absurdity of voting “straight ticket” until last year.
Fool me once but never again. And yes, if we’re screwed by a Donkey or an Elephant, we’re still screwed.
Great post, Steve. I enjoyed it and it helped me better define my confused self (because my party let me down, so where am I?)
What’s your take on President Obama thus far?
Weak. Waffling, wavering, ambiguous and overwhelmingly concessionary.
Is any of that enough to get you back into the political arena?
It’s too early to say. One thing is, I always want the progressive agenda represented on the ballot, even in a rigged two-party tyranny. I wish other people would do it, but as far as me, it’s too early to say.
Do you think third parties have a shot in the next elections?
Sure. They’ll be called the Bloomberg Party. Some billionaire will come in like Perot and turn it into a three-way race. There’s so many billionaires, and a few of them are quite enlightened. You don’t need a right-wing billionaire because they’ve already got the Republican Party.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1925576,00.html
All I know is I’m voting AGAINST any candidate who has supported Obama’s policies this next election – I don’t care what letter they have behind their name.
I think there is one thing that really seems we don’t understand . He is a politician . He knows what he is doing regardless our attitude towards him.
i have always voted for the person never the party
Every attempt made to create a third party got bogged down in wedge issues at some point in its existence or was too narrowly focused. A Centrist Party would be great but will never happen because those who might form it would immediately maneuver to cut the other founders off; and each would have their own faction that would bicker among themselves, wandering off on rhetorical tangents that would have nothing to do with anything but sure would sound good.
I’m not hopeful at all.
Hi, Thank you! I would now go on this blog every day!
Have a nice day
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