
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xml:base="http://projects.newsobserver.com" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<channel>
 <title>newsobserver.com projects - Who are the Blue Dog Democrats? - Comments</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/faq/who_are_the_blue_dog_democrats</link>
 <description>Comments for &quot;Who are the Blue Dog Democrats?&quot;</description>
 <language>en</language>
<item>
 <title>Re: Who are the Blue Dog Democrats?</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/faq/who_are_the_blue_dog_democrats#comment-17121</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;Let&#039;s be honest here.  These so-called &quot;Blue Dogs&quot; aren&#039;t really all that conservative. They are still in the party of Pelosi and still vote for her for Speaker of the House.  They still vote, on most major issues, the way she tells them to.  Sure, there are exceptions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Shuler talks a good game, but instead of a blue dog whip, he&#039;s just a whipped lap dog.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It&#039;s too bad, because I enjoyed watching him throw touchdowns at the University of Tennessee.  Too bad he is now throwing our money away in Congress.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If any of these folks were true conservatives, they would change parties.  &#039;Nuff said.&lt;/p&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:21:36 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>kttechwriter</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 17121 at http://projects.newsobserver.com</guid>
</item>
<item>
 <title>Who are the Blue Dog Democrats?</title>
 <link>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/faq/who_are_the_blue_dog_democrats</link>
 <description>&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-answer&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Answer:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;A group of conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/&quot;&gt;Blue Dog Coalition&lt;/a&gt; was formed in 1994 to help conservative Democrats present a unified front on issues such as the national debt and taxes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are several explanations for the name. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One is that it is a contrast to staunch Democratic loyalists known as &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Dog_Democrat&quot;&gt;&amp;quot;yellow dog Democrats.&amp;quot;&lt;/a&gt; (The name &amp;quot;yellow dog&amp;quot; is derived from the joke that those Democrats would vote for a yellow dog before voting for a Republican.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another is that conservative Democrats had been &amp;quot;choked blue&amp;quot; by the liberal and centrist side of their party at the time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And a third is that it refers to the blue dog paintings by Louisiana artist &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Rodrigue&quot;&gt;George Rodrigue&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Currently, U.S. Reps. &lt;a href=&quot;/dome/profiles/mike_mcintyre&quot;&gt;Mike McIntyre&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;/dome/profiles/heath_shuler&quot;&gt;Heath Shuler&lt;/a&gt; are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/Member%20Page.html&quot;&gt;members&lt;/a&gt; of the coalition, and Shuler is a &lt;a href=&quot;/under_the_dome/quick_hits_5&quot;&gt;whip&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;McIntyre joined when he was elected in 1996; Shuler, upon his election in 2006. In 2008, Shuler &lt;a href=&quot;/under_the_dome/kissell_not_much_of_a_joiner&quot;&gt;unsuccessfully tried&lt;/a&gt; to recruit freshman Rep. &lt;a href=&quot;/profiles/larry_kissell&quot;&gt;Larry Kissell&lt;/a&gt; to join as well. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field field-type-text field-field-brief&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-label&quot;&gt;Brief:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-items&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;field-item&quot;&gt;A group of conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/faq/who_are_the_blue_dog_democrats#comment</comments>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/blue_dog_coalition">Blue Dog Coalition</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/debt">debt</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/economy">economy</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/george_rodrigue">George Rodrigue</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/heath_shuler">Heath Shuler</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/mike_mcintyre">Mike McIntyre</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/tags/taxes">taxes</category>
 <category domain="http://projects.newsobserver.com/project/under_the_dome">Under the Dome</category>
 <pubDate>Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:46:49 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ryanteaguebeckwith</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">9384 at http://projects.newsobserver.com</guid>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
