Blue Dogs

The other day, we looked at a list of the sneaky conservative Democrats who applied for endorsements from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- the New Dems and the Blue Dogs.

When I was growing up I always thought Labor Day picnics marked the beginning of the election season. Now it seems to be the beginning of the final stretch of a campaign that's been raging for a year. We hope no Blue America members are focussing solely on the presidential race.

This morning, we quoted GOP billionaire Mike Fernandez, from his OpEd endorsing Hillary Clinton, that party loyalty should never come before cores values and principles: "No longer can we hide behind the excuse that party loyalty is paramount, and that a bad candidate of our own is always better than any candidate of theirs.

How do you know if a Democrat is a real Democrat or some crook from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. If the candidate in question is an incumbent, it's easy; they all have voting records you can find at ProgressivePunch. That link shows how House members were scored by the ProgressivePunch algorithm.

In his most recent book, Listen Liberal" Or, What Ever Happened To The Party Of The People, Thomas Frank put forward a compelling thesis that an American political realignment is already well underway.

Thursday the House had 13 roll call votes. As usual, an array of Blue Dogs and New Dems crossed the aisle to vote with the GOP on them. 10 of the 13 roll calls were concerned with passing a Department of the Interior appropriations bill.

Buck, Loretta and... friendJust over a week ago, we noted that Orange County Blue Dog Loretta Sanchez is, in effect, the Republican in this year's California Senate race.

Sellus Wilder is the progressive Democrat-- Democratic wing of the Democratic Party-- running for the Kentucky Senate seat currently occupied by Rand Paul. The Democratic Establishment has their own candidate in the primary, Jim Gray, all ready to do all the same old GOP-lite things Democrats do in Kentucky to lose elections.

Joe Baca was one of the worst members of Congress when he was in Congress-- a corrupt, conservative Blue Dog and NRA shill. Although he voted with the Republicans against core progressive values and principles virtually all the time, there is such an utter lack of party discipline that he was able to cross the aisle with complete impunity.

NRA terrorist/House Speaker with suspicious beardPaul Ryan, the darling of the gun manufacturers' lobbyists-- and the biggest recipient in the House of their blood money-- adamantly refuses to allow a vote on prohibiting terrorism suspects to buy guns.