It's Time to Expose and Defeat Every Blue Dog Democrat

The Democrats currently have a 39 seat majority in Congress, however 58 members of their caucus are "blue dogs".  These 58 Democrats describe themselves as fiscal conservatives (and in some cases social conservatives) and represent districts that range from marginally Republican to "red meat conservative".  The problem is that there is no such thing as a conservative Democrat in the 21st century.  Most of the blue dogs are in fact Pelosi lapdogs who vote with their leadership on a majority of issues and on virtually all of the vital procedural votes.  Even the few blue dogs who vote with Republicans only do so because they hail from conservative districts. 

Also, there is another important fallacy about these "conservative" Democrats.  Every single one of them votes for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, and even the most conservative Democrat hands control of the committees to extremists like Henry Waxman, John Conyers, and Barney Frank.  By single handily granting Pelosi a governing majority, the Blue Dog Coalition grants the Democrats full control of the Rules Committee, which completely manipulates the legislative process for the leadership.  This effectively assures the passage of any legislation that is supported by Pelosi and her ilk.  This is exactly how we got ObamaCare.

The obvious question of any observer should be, "why are these self proclaimed conservative Democrats campaigning, caucusing, and promoting the power of the most radical leaders of the Democrat party in American history?"  How can a "conservative" facilitate the passage of legislation that negates the very core values that they purport to espouse?

The answer is that these blue dogs are liberal wolves disguised as sheep.  They are just as liberal as Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank, it's just that they have to pretend to be conservative in order to remain in office.  The simple fact is that the Democrat party, as it is currently constituted, is extremely radical, while the Republican party (much to our chagrin) is not very conservative.  To put it another way, Ben Nelson is not the poster boy for the Democrat party and unfortunately Jim DeMint is not the face of the Republican party.  Therefore, by virtue of any politician opting to join the Democrats, they expose themselves as ultra leftists.  Period.  If the blue dogs were really true to their convictions they would demand that a so called moderate blue dog become Speaker instead of Pelosi.  Until Recently, these lap dogs have successfully run a scheme in which they talk the conservative talk at home, while goose stepping the socialist march in DC.  2010 is the time to put an end to this dog and pony show.

Due to Republican incompetence over the years, the Democrats successfully hold almost 70 seats that are rated at least R+1 by Charlie Cook's partisan voter index.  35 of those seats are rated as R+5 or higher.  However, as a result of the toxic climate for Democrats, the tea party movement, and solid Republican recruitment efforts, we have the first opportunity ever to obliterate the Blue Dog Coalition and win back every one of those seats.  The membership of the blue dog coalition should be zero by the beginning of the 112th congress.  In fact, we should be able to win back the majority exclusively with Republican leaning seats.

Although there has been much progress in exposing these fraudulent "conservative" Democrats, there are still some troubling signs of blue dog staying power is certain selected districts:

•  ID-1 Walt Minick- This western Idaho district is rated R+18, and is perhaps the most conservative district represented by a Democrat.  Minick won a stunning upset in 2008 due to low turnout and Republican infighting, but we were assured that there was no way he could hold the district, even in a mediocre year.  Well, according to a recent poll, Minick leads his Republican challenger, Raul Labrador, by a whopping 52%-29%.  Minick has $1.1 million cash on hand, while Labrador has just $69,000.  This is simply absurd given that Minick scored a dismal 44% from the American Conservative Union, despite his much touted opposition to Obama's big agenda items.  Any congressman from Idaho should score nothing less than 100% conservative.  Yet, he has successfully touted his conservative credentials by trashing Obama and Pelosi at home, even to the point that he has garnered endorsements from the Chamber of Commerce and The Tea Party Express! 

How can we let this district slip through our hands during any election cycle, much less a wave election year?  The NRCC should be running ads every day in this inexpensive media market detailing Minick's compliance in preserving the Democrat majority!  And what is wrong with these conservative organizations that endorsed him?  Don't they realize that Labrador would be 100% conservative and actually mean what he says, unlike Minick who is clearly playing a good cop/bad cop charade with Pelosi in order to perpetuate the Democrats control of the House?  At the top of his website, Minick purports to "demand fiscal accountability", yet it is directly because of him and his lap dog coalition that the Democrats were able to run up our debt to $12 trillion.  Even though Minick will never mention his party affiliation, we need to remind his constituents every day that he is a Pelosi puppy.  Let's pin the tail on the donkey and contribute to Raul Labrador for Congress.

• WV-3 Nick Rahall- This is a conservative R+6 southern WV district, however, Rahall has held it for over 30 years by professing to be a pro life, pro gun Democrat.  The reality is that he is a radical leftist (12% ACU) and was one of the Stupak sellouts who voted for Obamacare.  Rahall is not even a member of the blue dog coalition.  Amazingly, Rahall leads his Republican challenger, Spike Maynard, 53%-37% according to the cluster polling done by American Action Forum.  How can the Republicans fail to depose of a leftist in a state where Obama is so unpopular?  For one thing, Rahall is outspending Maynard 15-1.  Let's keep Maynard on the airways and send Rahall packing.

• Mis-1 Travis Childers- Here is another freshman blue dog who is sitting on an R+14 district and is promoting himself as an arch conservative.  He is campaigning as a pro gun, pro life, anti-tax conservative, and has even attacked Republican state rep. Sam Nunnelee as a tax raiser!  Does he think we are unaware of his party affiliation?  If he and other blue dogs are allowed to keep their seats there won't be anything stopping the largest tax increase in history.  So why is the NRA and the NRL endorsing him?  Sam Nunnelee is the only one who can send this Pelosi lapdog back to the kennel.

•  IN-2 Joe Donnelly- This marginally R+2 Republican district has been in the hands of the Democrats for the past 4 years.  However, you wouldn't know it by the way Donnelly is campaigning.  He is actually running ads attacking Pelosi, the very person he always appoints to her position of leadership.  Donnelly is even running an ad depicting Obama and Pelosi while he attacks them as "the Washington crowd".  Yet, he voted with the "Washington crowd" 88.3% of the time.  We must help his opponent, Jackie Walorski, remind this lap dog who his real masters are.

There is no question that we are making progress exposing these frauds for the socialist collaborators that they are.  Most of the recent polling from American Action Forum was quite encouraging.  However, we need to be vigilant and highlight the districts that are slipping away.  We cannot afford to let a single one of these Democrat partisan puppies remain in office.  While they will shout from the rooftops  they opposed Obamacare, there is not a single one of them who will vote to repeal it.  We are not going to win solid Democrat districts, even in a wave election.  However, we can, and must defeat every fraudulent blue dog in Pelosi's doggy House.