Boren: Blue Dogs are 'Yellow Dogs' squeezed by the left

[babylonsister]

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/08/18/boren-blue-dogs-are-yellow-dogs-squeezed-by-the-left/

Boren: Blue Dogs are 'Yellow Dogs' squeezed by the left
@ 2:04 pm by Michael O'Brien


"Blue Dog" Democrats are simply old-school Southern Democrats who've been scared off by the party's left flank, Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) claimed Tuesday.

"A Blue Dog is a kind of hybrid," Boren, an especially conservative Democrat, told constituents at a town hall meeting this morning. "It's a Yellow Dog that's been squeezed by the left."

"Yellow Dog" Democrats were voters in the South who historically favored Democrats because Abraham Lincoln, the president of the United States during the Civil War, was a Republican.

Boren told constituents that he'd decided to oppose the House healthcare bill after returning to Washington in September because he'd spend the August recess reading the bill.

"I actually had the time to sit down and read the bill, 1,000 pages," Boren said, according to the McAlester News-Capital.

Boren has been one of the most outspoken Democratic lawmakers against the healthcare bill and leaders in the House over the past few months' worth of debate over the healthcare reform effort.

[hobbit709]

1. He's just yellow.

The difference between a statesman and a politician.
A statesman looks ahead to the next generation. A politician can't/won't see past the next election.
The statesman has become a nearly extinct species.

[MNDemNY]

2. Sqeeze them harder.

[David__77]

3. Oh he does not belong in there at all.

I was sad that the progressive Native American woman did not beat him in the primary when this seat came open. So much better is possible there. Oklahoma used to be a bastion for socialists, interestingly. It was, however, always deeply racist.

[Canuckistanian]

4. Which bill will he be reading?

There are something like 3 versions out there and nothing has been decided yet.

[redqueen]

13. He's full of shit...

but he's counting on most people in the electorate being too fucking stupid to realize that.

Sadly, he's probably safe in that assumption.

[GreenTea]

5. A blue-dog is nothing more than a fucking republican wolf, in moderate democratic sheeps clothing.

[Kingofalldems]

6. So blue dogs are republicans?

Time to tombstone all DU blue dogs.

[OHdem10]

7. How Wrong. Yellow Dog : Would rather be a yellow dog than

support a republican or anything not Democratic.

Blue Dogs are Conservative Democrats. Hard to separate from
Moderate Republican.


There is no connection between the two.

Jim Hightower calls himself a yellow dog.

[redqueen]

12. Exactly. WTF is this shit about Lincoln?

Frickin morons... they're everywhere. :eyes:

[Z_I_Peevey]

8. Idiot.

He's a complete idiot. And there is virtually no way he's going to vote for health care reform. He's a Republican pretending to be a Democrat. That's all a Blue Dog is.

I can't imagine he knows what a yellow dog is, much less the correct way to pronounce it.

[invictus]

9. They are the Dixiecrats who are too stuborn to officially change parties. Unlike fellow former Dems

such as Strom Thurmond, Phil Graham, Trent Lott, Richard Shelby, etc.

[ezgoingrl]

10. In Oklahoma even our Democrat in Congress is a Republican.

We're magic like that!!

[earthboundmisfit]

26. The last real Dem in Congress we had in OK was Mike Synar.

I wish to hell we still had him. (Died of brain cancer in '96 at age 46, after 8 terms)

[Cleita]

11. Maybe the dogs belong in a kennel where they can't bite anyone anymore. n/t

[ParkieDem]

14. Seriously, I never understood the Blue Dogs ...

what exactly is it about them that makes them Democrats? Yeah, I know they vote for our people in leadership elections, etc., but other than that, it just seems like they do more to antagonize Democrats and appease Republicans than really work for the Democratic Party.

Maybe they know that they have more leverage this way? I don't know, I just find myself wishing much of the time that they would just switch parties. Hell, I was happy when Ralph Hall left, and I know the conserva-wackos at my office were happy when Arlen Specter left the GOP.

Do we really need these guys around?

[Cleita]

19. Welcome to DU ParkieDem.

I'm as baffled as you. There was a time the party chiefs could make them behave but nowadays they seem to answer to no one but themselves.

[Deja Q]

15. Naah. They're just blue because they never get laid.

:yoiks:

[Dr Fate]

16. LOL! What total BS. Blue Dogs are squeezed & controlled by the far right, not Liberals.

Their support of Bush, the Iraq Invasion and other wrong-headed conservative positions is not the result of pressure from the left, but pressure from the right.

The left does not "scare" these conservatives at all- it's Republicans that tell the Joe Lieberman types when and where to jump.

[SoCalDem]

17. Blue dogs are republicans masquerading as democrats n/t

[BlueIdaho]

18. Worthless pile of shit.

Yet another weakling...

[Odin2005]

20. They are dumb dogs.

[NaturalHigh]

21. I'm not Boren's biggest fan...

but he represents the views of people in his district. I know because I'm in it. This is a district of conservative Democrats.

Isn't representing his consituents what he was elected to do?

[geek tragedy]

24. He should represent them as a Republican.

His supporters vote Republican in national races anyways.

[NaturalHigh]

25. I get your point...

but again, the district is made up mostly of conservative Democrats. Do you suggest that everybody in the district should change their political affiliation to Republican? That's kind of cutting off the nose to spite the face, isn't it?

[geek tragedy]

27. I really don't care what Oklahoma 'Democrats' do.

They're Republicans in every respect that matters on the national stage.

[bermudat]

22. Blue Cross Democrats

[geek tragedy]

23. Just kick Boren out of the caucus already.

He'd be a Republican in any other state. If he's not going to vote with his party on the important issues, show him the damn door.