Blue Dog Democrats

Independents Wanted Parties To Compromise: Instead They Have Produced Greater Polarization! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

It has often been said that Independent votes decide elections, and certainly the majority of Independents supported the Democrats in 2008, and this time backed the Republicans in midterm elections.

Independents have always been those who condemn partisanship, and call for the two major parties to cooperate and work together toward compromise, but ironically, what they have done this time is to produce total stalemate, gridlock and polarization bound to be greater than the first two years of the Obama Administration! 🙁

The “Blue Dog” Democrats and some “mainstream” conservative Republicans have been defeated, and instead we have the most liberal Democrats and most conservative and “Tea Party” Republicans becoming dominant in their parties, which means no real chance of “crossing the aisle” and moving toward compromise! 🙁

So expect no real progress on the economy or other significant issues, but rather “fireworks” and heated rhetoric over the next two years! 🙁

The question is how Independents will vote in 2012 for Congress and the Presidency. Will they blame the GOP in the House of Representatives, or the Democrats in the Senate and the White House for the failure to deal with America’s problems? Which party will be in control of the Congress and the White House in 2013?

One thing is for sure: the great “theater” of politics will be in full swing, entertaining us and mortifying us at the same time, in 2011-2012! 🙁

The Major Losses Of The Democratic Party In The Midterm Elections! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

It is true that the Democratic Party had major losses in the Midterm Elections of 2010, particularly in the House of Representatives, but it is also true that much of the loss in that chamber was of “Blue Dog” Democrats–moderate to conservative Democrats who were afraid to take a stand for the Obama Administration on many issues, tried to act like Republicans, and were rejected by voters who preferred the “real” Republicans to phony Democrats!

So if one looks at who were the major losses for the Democrats, they are as follows:

Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin
Congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, Senate nominee
Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio
Alexi Giannoulias of Illinois, Senate nomineee
Jack Conway of Kentucky, Senate nominee
Bill White of Texas, Gubernatorial nominee
Scott McAdams of Alaska, Senate nominee
Congressman Ron Klein of Florida
Congressman Tom Perriello of Virginia
Congressman John Boccieri of Ohio

At the same time, there were many satisfying victories for Democrats, and the advantage now is that the Democrats who survived or were elected, in most cases, are REAL Democrats with sharply different views of issues than the Republican Party!

What the country does not need are TWO Republican parties, one “real” and one phony! 🙁

Hooray For Principle! Congressman Parker Griffith’s Staff Resigns Over Switch To GOP

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It is very refreshing to see that some people who work for a politician have strong enough convictions that they are willing to resign their positions rather than support disloyalty to party by their boss.

I am referring to Congressman Parker Griffith, a Blue Dog Democrat, who had refused to back any of President Obama’s agenda in 2009, and decided to switch parties just before Christmas.

Today, the staff announced as a group that they were unwilling to support his switch based on principles, and beliefs in the Democratic agenda.

Griffith faces a tough GOP primary, and hopefully, he will lose the nomination because of his lack of loyalty to the party that elected him to Congress in 2008. His staff is to be commended, in difficult times, for showing that principles do indeed matter!