According to Wikipedia: “The term ‘Blue Dog Democrat’ is credited to Texas Democratic Rep. Pete Geren (who later joined the Bush administration). Geren opined that the members had been ‘choked blue’ by extreme Democrats from the Left. It is related to the political term ‘Yellow Dog Democrat,’ a reference to southern Democrats said to be so loyal they would even vote for a yellow dog if it were labeled Democrat.
The term is also a reference to the ‘Blue Dog’ paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana, as the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hays, both of whom later joined the Republican Party; both had Rodrigue’s paintings on their walls.
An additional explanation for the term cited by members is ‘when dogs are not let into the house, they stay outside in the cold and turn blue,’ a reference to the Blue Dogs’ belief they had been left out of a party that they believed had shifted to the political left.”
In subsequent elections, the majority of the Blue Dog Democrats, either, switched parties to the Republicans or were defeated by Republicans. The remaining Democrats, for the most part, were from the far left of the party. The resulting bills and nominations reflected the leftward drift of the party, reaching its fruition with the election of Barrack Obama. His actions reveal him to be the most radical liberal of all the Presidents.
There is a law of physics that applies to politics, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In reaction to the actions of an, increasingly, liberal Democrat party, the Republicans face increasing pressures to elect conservative Congressmen, thus, the emergence of the Tea Party and an increasingly conservative Republican Party.
While the Tea Party has had limited success electing it’s own candidates, it has forced the mainstream candidates to take increasingly conservatively positions, further dividing an already divided congress. It is doubtful that a leader of even the stature of Ronald Reagan could unite congress as it is currently structured.
In my many years I have come to a
conclusion that one useless man
is a shame, two is a law firm,
and three or more is a congress.
— John Adams
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