Posted on 10/26/2010 10:32:57 AM PDT by neverdem
IN 2008, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign seemed to rewrite all the rules in electoral politics and herald a new progressive era in America. Democrats assembled a huge Congressional majority and, in the euphoria that followed the historic election, were poised to enact sweeping change. However, despite some notable successes — the stimulus package, health care reform, tighter rules for the financial industry — things have not gone according to plan. Just two years later, Democrats face a bad economy, a skeptical public, a re-energized Republican Party and a coming avalanche of losses in the midterm elections.
What happened? One important explanation is that divisions inside the Democratic coalition, which held together during the 2008 campaign, have come spilling out into the open. Conservative Democrats have opposed key elements of the president’s agenda, while liberal Democrats have howled that their majority is being hijacked by a rogue group of predominantly white men from small rural states. President Obama himself appears caught in the middle, unable to satisfy the many factions inside his party’s big tent.
Conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives — whose election in 2006 and 2008 enabled Nancy Pelosi to preside over a supermajority (there are 255 Democrats and 178 Republicans) — increasingly question whether she should relinquish her position as speaker. Representative Heath Shuler of western North Carolina, a leader of the restive Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats, has even hinted that he may...
--snip--
In 2005, Howard Dean, who was then the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, carried out a campaign to elect as many Democrats as possible. In long-ignored red states, both Mr. Dean and Rahm Emanuel, then the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, backed conservative Democrats who broke with the party’s leadership on core issues like gun control and abortion rights...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We’ll take care of that for you.
The Rats will be represented in the next Congress almost exclusively by the shrill, arrogant radicals most Americans have come to detest.
The Democrats are finished, you understand?
I see a D by a name, I vote against the man wearin’ it!
So run, you cur... RUN! Tell all the other curs the Tea Party’s comin’!
You tell ‘em I’M coming... and hell’s coming with me, you hear?... Hell’s coming with me!
Blue Dog Leadership Team
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Jim Matheson (UT-02), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip
Blue Dog Members
Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Markey, Betsy (CO-04)
Marshall, Jim (GA-08)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Murphy, Scott (NY-20)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Schrader, Kurt (OR-05)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)
However, despite some notable successes — the stimulus package, health care reform, tighter rules for the financial industry — things have not gone according to plan. Just two years later, Democrats face a bad economy, a skeptical public, a re-energized Republican Party and a coming avalanche of losses in the midterm elections. What happened?
Amazing. Simply amazing.
The liberals had their plans. We shouted from every rooftop that not only would they fail but they would dig a deeper hole. The plan reached its logical conclusion. Massive job loss, the devaluation of currency, and a complete economic mess.
Here we are two years later and the NY Times has no idea what went wrong? Seriously?
I am stunned at the stupidity of these people. Stunned.
In other words, the rats in 2008 defrauded the American public by running ostensibly more conservative candidates in more conservative districts. They then used the resulting majority, which included a lot of rats elected by conservatives, as a mandate for anti-conservative, hyper-progressivism and shoved it down our throats.
There never was a progressive mandate. Yet my son will be living with the damage the progressives have done in two years for the next 30 years.
How is that any different than the current Rat membership?
As ModelBreaker points out in post 7, the "conservative Democrat" bait-and-switch is no longer viable.
AKA... democrats who wait an extra few days before voting for legislation that kills America's future.
Heath Shuler, NC-11, on Nancy Pelosi...
...had nothing but kind words for the speaker during an appearance in his district this week — telling a meeting of high school students she was “the most misunderstood person in Washington,” according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
...said “she’s (Pelosi) very misunderstood. She’s a devout Catholic. Don’t get in a Bible discussion with her.”
... said he bonded with the speaker when he brought his infant daughter to the floor of the House — and Pelosi heard the child bawling. “She [Pelosi] raced down, picked her up and took her to her mother, Nikol. Her grandma instincts kicked in.”
More like a lap dog, than “blue dog.”
What a load of BS!
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