Posted on 11/12/2009 12:12:43 PM PST by MamaDearest
Last Saturday night – at about 11:15 pm Eastern Standard Time – hyperliberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal) rammed her healthcare reform bill through with the smallest of margins.
Pelosi needed 218 to get the bill passed, and she got all of 220, opponents registering 215. In short, three votes pushed the Pelosicare through to the point where the Senate can now consider it or some other version of it.
Where did those 220 votes come from? Too many came from the so-called “Blue Dog Coalition” in Congress, a group of 52 Democratic representatives that claim to hold in high esteem the principles of “fiscal conservatism,” should be coming down hard on the side of responsible spending. Their record, as has been repeatedly documented on this site but has received little attention anywhere else however, casts grave doubts on the seriousness of their claim to “fiscal conservatism.”
There is little doubt that the American health care system is in a crisis. There are two facets of this crisis: the large number of Americans that can’t afford insurance and the out-of-control costs of the present system. To attack one facet of the problem on the back of the other is not only bad economics, its bad politics. The Blue Dogs, most of whom come from conservative districts, have been far from solid in their opposition to Pelosi’s irresponsible and damaging health care plan, and – we sincerely hope -- will pay dearly come next year’s midterm elections.
But the Pelosicare vote – standing alone – isn’t painting a clear enough picture of the Hapless Liberal Hounds. Some of them – a group of 22 voted for the “cap and trade” global warming tax earlier this year.
Now we can really narrow this down. Here, courtesy of the number crunchers at HUMAN EVENTS, the 17 Blue Dogs that have shown their true stripes voting for a government takeover of health care and Pelosicare:
Blue Dogs that voted for H.R. 3962 “Pelosicare” and H.R. 2454 “Cap and Trade”
Joe Baca (CA-43)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
Dennis Cardoza (CA-18)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
Jane Harman (CA-36)
Baron Hill (IN-09) [Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy]
Mike Michaud (ME-02)
Dennis Moore (KS-03)
Patrick Murphy (PA-08)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-47)
Adam Schiff (CA-29)
David Scott (GA-13)
Zack Space (OH-18)
Mike Thompson (CA-01)
The above consists of 33% of Blue Dog membership
Blue Dogs that voted for Pelosicare, but not Cap and Trade
Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Marion Berry (AR-01)
Christopher Carney (PA-10)
Jim Costa (CA-20)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
Joe Donnelly (IN-02)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Charles Wilson (OH-06)
The above consists of 17% of Blue Dog membership
In total: 50% (26) of the supposedly fiscally conservative Blue Dogs voted for Pelosicare.
Maybe the ones who voted for it bought Pelosi’s line that the reason Democrats lost the house in 1994 was because they didn’t pass health care.
The rep from my district, a flaming liberal didn’t vote for it, so I think it had more to do with who would end up being sacraficed rather than principle.
I thought Mary Landrieu considered her self a moderate or blue dog but I don’t see her on any lists. But, tracking her past votes she usually ends up voting whatever dem party wants. Let’s see how she does down the road when the administration starts the arm twisting. She needs to go anyway. Maybe in 2010 we will have another chance to remove the boil.
The term “Blue Dog” is an invention of the MSM to make people think that in an election the Democrat has the same views as the Repulican, A Democrat is a Democrat and the ones who did not vote for the bill were hand picked by Pelosi and her group to look like they opposed it, to try an impress voters in their districts
Loretta Sanchez a blue dog? No way. She’s a leftist through and through. She may represent a district in Orange Co., CA but trust me, she’s a super-lib.
And the next question is, how many of them are vulnerable in 2010?
She campaigned for Corzine...
Hill ought to go down hard. Who is running against him? I can’t see how he can survive.
Only because the abortion amendment was thrown in. I'll bet most would've gone against it if not for that.
She's farther to the left than Lindsey Graham!
.
How many? Just enough to get the bill thru and still come out looking “bipartisan”. “Bipartisanship” is for....wussies.
“And the next question is, how many of them are vulnerable in 2010?”
Because we can send funding to their opponents even if they aren’t in our districts.
About half these "blue dogs" are in safe Democrap districts and may vote for defense spending bills on occasion, but thats about it.
You know, that list reminded me of my encounter with Heath Shuler, Blue Dog Democrat from North Carolina, in the hallway of the Cannon office building a couple of days after the 9/12 DC march. It started with my comment, “You’re not going to let Nancy Pelosi lead you around by the nose on this health care bill, are you?” It was a 5 minute conversation that seemed to catch him offguard and make him uncomfortable. He made an effort to marginalize and cast some suspicion on the Tea Party people. “What group are you with?”, he asked as he scrutinized my “Don’t Tread on Me” lapel pin. My last image is of him running away from the conversation when I stood my ground. And as we made our last comments, of him standing halfway in the elevator door with the door repeatedly trying to close and hitting him in the back and reopening. Maybe that conversation played a small part in his “No” vote after all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.