Blue Dogs

[MAS117]

I can believe Patrick Murphy is joining the Blue Dogs. Hes a moderate but hes no Blue Dog.

[Keystone Phil]

I can believe Patrick Murphy is joining the Blue Dogs. Hes a moderate but hes no Blue Dog.

He's not even a moderate.

[NewFederalist]

Blue Dog Coalition

Frodo- can you tell me the difference between a Blue Dog and a Boll Weevil or a Blue Dog and a Yellow Dog or (segregation aside) a Blue Dog and a Dixiecrat? Just curious.

In chronological order:

Dixiecrat primarily refers to those conservative southern Democrats who strived to preserve Jim Crow laws legalizing racial segregation against outside interference throughout the first half of the twentieth century.  You cannot think of a Dixiecrat without also thinking of segregation -the two are inseparable.  They were generally populist (supporting FDR's New Dea and Harry Truman's Fair Deal legislation) though they were hostile to labor unions, and joined with Republicans in passing the Taft-Hartley Act. 

Boll Weevils is essentially a term that described those conservative southern Democrats who, in the 1970s and '80s, supported tax cuts, increased defense spending, and deregulation, and were crucial in passing much of President Reagan's agenda. 

Blue Dogs describes the coalition of those southern Democrats who remained after the Republican Revolution of 1994 decimated most of their colleagues.  It eventually incorporated Democrats from other regions of the country who shared the coalition's values of fiscal responsibility.  It is generally socially moderate-to-conservative though there are some who would be better described as New Democrats given the fact they are more socially liberal than the majority of the coalition.  They are crucial in brokering compromises between Democrats and Republicans in this era of hyperpartisanship. 
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And as for 'Yellow Dogs', that was once a label pinned on those southerners who consistently voted Democrat simply because of the longstanding legacy of Republicans from the period spanning the Civil War and Reconstruction.  It arose from a saying that a southerner would rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican.   





 

Thanks! Those are pretty much my definitions as well.

[Smash255]

I can believe Patrick Murphy is joining the Blue Dogs. Hes a moderate but hes no Blue Dog.

He will be very much a Steve Israel type dog.