Good Dog? Conservatives Within Obama's Own Party Snarling Health Plan ("Blue Dog" Democrats)

ABC News ^ | July 25, 2009 | John Hendren

[2ndDivisionVet]

Rep. Mike Ross's phone won't stop ringing.

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh has fans calling to thank the Democrat for stalling health care reform. Angry liberals -- some prompted by MSNBC's Ed Schultz -- call to berate him for the same reason.

So how did an Arkansas pharmacy owner become a major power broker? He's a member of a rare breed -- a "Blue Dog" Democrat.

"We're a group of conservative, common-sense Democrats that feel like we have been choked blue by the extremes of both parties," Ross, D-Ark., chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition's Health Care Task Force, told ABC News.

President Obama knew he'd have trouble with Republicans when it came to approving his health care reform plan. But it is the 52 Blue Dog Democrats -- led by Ross -- who now threaten to block his health care reform plan. Their main objection is its $1.75 trillion-dollar price tag.

"There are some within our party that think that we're not real Democrats or that we're obstructionists. Nothing could be further from the truth," Ross said. "I would say to them that President Obama, as recently as Tuesday, said the Blue Dog Coalition -- a group of conservative Democrats -- are in fact rightfully raising issues about the current house health care reform bill not going far enough at containing health care costs."

[WOSG]

The correct term is

PELOSI POODLE

Dont assume they will stop Obama's bad bills. They didnt stop cap-and-tax, they voted for Obama's budget, and they helped vote for the Stimulus boondoggle. They are just guny shy now that Obama's poll numbers are dipping.

[WOSG]

“I’m with you, this guy calling themselves a bunch of conservative dimwits is just BS. They are not conservative, the proof of that pudding is that they want health care passed, they just don’t want THIS health care passed. I would imagine that is because the voters are skinning them alive with phone calls, emails and faxes. “

Yup. Pelosi Poodles.

But they also know what will end their careers and they wont slit their throats to satisfy the leftists in their party.

They only see the light when they feel the heat.

[sinanju]

For all their high-minded rhetoric the issue hasn’t got squat to do with principles.

The Blue Dogs got elected in conservative districts and they are not about to commit electoral hara-kiri by nose-thumbing their voters for the sake of the Big “O”.