Travis Childers

Right-wing populists-- who are sometimes referred to as teabaggers-- have pretty much taken over the Republican social policy agenda. But have been largely unable to beat Chamber of Commerce Republicans in primaries this year, the way they did manage to do in 2010 and 2012 by replacing longtime Senate incumbents like Bob Bennett (R-UT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Dick Lugar (R-IN) and beating Establishment candidates in Delaware (Mike Castle), Florida (Charlie Crist), Nevada (Sue Lowden), Colorado (Jane Norton), Texas (David Dewhurst) and Kentucky (Trey Grayson).

Democrats regularly win statewide races in Maine and South Dakota, though DSCC executive director Guy Cecil, some kind of a self-loathing Beltway creature, has written off both states to the Republicans in November. He's much more excited about spending DSCC millions down in Mississippi on behalf of homophobic, anti-Choice Blue Dog Travis Childers. Don't forget, the last two times Democrats won Senate seats in Mississippi were when John Stennis was reelected in 1982, having first become a senator in 1947, and when James Eastland was reelected in 1972, having first become a senator in 1942.

Sunday morning we asked what it's like to be a Blue Dog in America today. And the picture that emerged was far from pretty. When looking at the natural progression from Blue Dog-- the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- to plain old Republican, we focused on the freak from Kansas who led the anti-gay and anti-Choice forces of hatred and bigotry in her badly afflicted state, Janice Pauls, finally finding her natural home in the GOP.

And the Democrat still isn't worth voting for!Joe Manchin (WV) is the most conservative Democrat in the Senate. According to ProgressivePunch, his lifetime crucial vote score is 60.71, pretty dreadful. He's the 55th "most progressive" member of the Senate. Every Republican is worse. The 5 Democrats almost as bad as Machin-- from bad to worse-- are Kay Hagan (NC), Joe Donnelly (IN), John Walsh (MT), Mark Pryor (AR), Mary Landrieu (LA), all in red or purple states.

Two of the most reactionary and bigoted Democrats to have served in Congress in modern times were Mississippi Blue Dogs Gene Taylor and Travis Childers. Both amassed voting records that would make any right-wing, hate-filled yahoo delighted. Yesterday each announced his far-fetched plan to get back into Congress. Taylor, who represented Mississippi's Gulf Coast between 1989 and 2011, finally admitted what I've been saying for over a decade: he's nothing but a Republican.

I have a crazy old ex-boss why still calls from time to time, usually to harass me about politics, which he sort of follows from time to time. His father was a ward boss in the Bronx when FDR was president and later a municipal judge. My friend is a life-long Democrat, although he loves Rudy Giuliani "for keeping us safe" and because he's a HUGE fan of "stop and frisk." He constantly berates me for "your boy Obama" no matter how many times I tell him I voted for the Green Party candidate, not for Obama. And his ideal Democrats are Bill and Hill. He loves the Clintons.