Two moderate Blue Dog incumbent Democrats lost to left-wing, union-backed challengers in Pennsylvania yesterday:
The Blue Dogs’ bark in Congress is sounding more and more like a whimper.
The once-powerful coalition of conservative Democrats suffered two more casualties on Tuesday as Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., lost to fellow Democratic Rep. Mark Critz, and Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., was ousted by political newcomer Matt Cartwright….
Holden, a ten-term congressman, had successfully fended off GOP challengers for years. But Pennsylvania mapmakers redrew his district to be more Democratic and he lost to a more liberal challenger. Similarly, labor unions propelled Critz past the more moderate Altmire, who voted against President Obama’s health care law.
It was a big win for the left-wing of the Democratic Party:
Even more than the defeat of three-term Rep. Jason Altmire by the more liberal Rep. Mark Critz in the re-carved Western Pennsylvania district, the upset of 20-year Rep. Tim Holden by political newcomer Matt Cartwright sent political shock waves from the Keystone State throughout the nation. In becoming the first incumbent House Democrat to be defeated for renomination by a non-incumbent, Holden–like Altmire–was clearly being punished for showing a bit of independence from the Obama-Pelosi-Reid line. The self-styled “blue dog” Democrat had supported the Republican energy policy, which calls for more oil drilling and coal exploration as well as experimenting with alternative sources of energy. In addition, Holden had opposed ObamaCare and, like Altmire in his race with Critz, was fiercely attacked by the far-left within his party.
The two moderates were targeted to push the party further to the left:
Getting a progressive Democrat into Pennsylvania’s newly redrawn 17th Congressional District was a priority for progressive groups, including MoveOn and the League of Conservation Voters. The latter ran the largest independent expenditure campaign in the race, which included a $230,000 TV ad buy on broadcast and cable networks in the Scranton media market.
The Blue Dogs always were an uncomfortable fit in a Democratic Party pushing ever farther to the left, increasingly comprised of crony-capitalists, union lackeys, and Occupiers.
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Well Professor the last remnants of the Democrat Party of our youth is now the target of the Progs, and the Progs won. This is starting to resemble Ayn Rand’s take on the US in the late 50s and early 60s. Crony Capitalists-check. Union lackeys-check. yOWSers-check. GE GM Goldman-Sachs. SEIU, Hoffa the second. yOWSers, Acorn, VanJones et al. My we are in for interesting times. Oh, by the way, call your Papa his croquet game needs some fine tuning.
This is happening all over. In 2010 “Milwaukee County Supervisor Chris Larson upended Plale in a Democratic primary on Tuesday. With 66 precincts reporting, Larson led Plale 57 percent to 43 percent.”*
Chris Larson is very progressive-socialist liberal, while Plale was somewhat liberal progressive. The Party apparatchiks facilitated Plale’s primary loss. Later on, when the lame-duck Democratic Legislature and Governor tried to ram crap through, Plale was one of the Democratic Senators to hold up the process. The other was previous Senatre Democratic leader who had been also ousted by his party. Gee, no loyalty to those who have shafted you?
But then, the Republicans are hard at work “primarying” RINOs.
*http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/102929339.html
Which way, America. The way of the Founders/Framers, or the way of the EU/USSR/UN model ? The disappearance of the Blue Dogs is yet a further indication that America is poised to choose one of these contrasting positions.
These two alternatives have found their way into all of our institutions, Congress included. Do we want freedom FROM government via limited, constitutional government, or do we want total government. There really is no middle ground. Madison (Fed. 51) poised the same issue. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
Rather than government being dependent on the people, as Madison et alia had hoped, today we witness Obama and his crowd of leftists inverting the Framers’ ideal to the point that the people, and as many as possible, must and therefore will be dependent on the government.
A great deal hangs on this election. If BO is re-elected, he will take that as America’s answer as to the question of Which Way.
Critz was endorsed by the Clenis because Obama has no credibility here in PA. The female AG candidate Clinton endorsed over the Axelrod-endorsed moron Patrick Murphy also won her race.
Fine by me.
Let the battle lines be drawn. Let all the Collectivist poisons hatch out.
Thinking there never was such an animal-
Fictitious breed, promulgated by somebody-
What never was, is now extinct.
Odds…
Excellent.
The Progressives are walking into the trap.
The Blue Dogs only lost an election. Thankfully, Obama hasn’t eaten them.
Yet.
I considered myself a blue dog centerist/moderate type democrat, but as there is no place for people like me in the democrat party, I’ve since reregistered as an Indepedent. I know several other dems who are just DINOs, they are quite conservative, but they just don’t want to reregister, the polls don’t pick up people like these voters.
I’d be interested to know why you thought you were/are a democrat-
As opposed to …
Sigh. I wish we were having the same kind of success here on the right, but alas, our RINO wing is not only alive and kicking, they are running the show!
There hasn’t been a “Blue Dog Democrat” in Congress for DECADES. The species is extinct in Washington, DC.
I am tired of hearing about “Blue Dog Democrats.” You are more likely to find a snipe in the forest than a “Blue Dog Democrat” in Washington, DC.
The original Blue Dogs were legitimate and influential. Had it not been for them, the DLC, and Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party would have been vanquished long ago.
But in recent years, the “Blue Dog” designation became utterly without meaning. Liberals in swing districts all joined the caucus, but everyone was expected to vote as the Party demanded. On issues where there was no chance to win OR votes to spare, some of the Blue Dogs were allowed to oppose the leadership to help with their reelections. That’s all the Blue Dog Caucus has been for in the last 5 or 6 Congresses.
Pelosi ate blue dogs for breakfast..
Obama ate any ol’ dog…
I was a Democrat for a long time. Yes, there used to be centrist-to-conservative Dems, who actually loved this country, and believed in paying our bills, and in free markets, and that “social programs” were a benevolent safety net generously provided by a generous people – not a lifelong RIGHT to govt dependence. They may have differed with conservatives on the absolute size of the State, but they were not advocates of the State as the solution to everything. They did love America, and what she historically stood for.
They are mostly extinct, now, but I knew lots of them back in the day. The radical wing of the D party has always been there on the fringes, but frankly most centrist and conservative Dems just kind of ignored them. Then they staged a coup over a period of years, and now the D party is utterly in their hands.
I would urge those conservatives who think Romney is “just like Obama” to go stand in front of a mirror and slap themselves back to sanity. These loons are actively bent on the destruction of our country. They want it so bad they can taste it. Mitt Romney, whatever his failings and faults, is not coldly determined to transform this country into a Statist’s wet dream, and debase her before the world. Obama is. The house may still be falling apart and in need of repair. And no, Mitt may not get those repairs done. But he sure as hell isn’t standing there with a molotov cocktail shouting “Burn it down!” They are.
THAT, folks, is the difference .
Did I miss something? Wasn’t this the democrat primary? Don’t these two have to run in a general election? I trust that the Republicans/Conservatives/Blue Dogs in these 2 districts are licking their chops, waiting for November.
In the Blue-Yellow fight within the Democrat Party it appears the Progs will win out. Let’s see if the electorate goes Yellow or Red State. We know the Progs will say anything, do anything to get their holy grail. Once they have full control they will pass law after law taking and giving back with strings attached. We, also, know that they will fight each other as they have throughout history. To our detriment.
I anxiously await the David Frum/ E.J. Dionne / et al column bemoaning the victory of the extreme Left at the expense of the moderate Democrat.