Something Everyone Can Do: Recess Rally

As you probably know by now, the Blue Dog Democrats have sold out to the Pelosi-Obama alliance in the House and it appears an Obamacare bill will be voted out of committee by the end of this week. With supermajorities in both the Senate and the House, we’re much closer to a government-run health care system than we were just yesterday. But now is not the time to lose heart, now is the time to step up the pressure on our elected officials in DC.

President Obama has staked his presidency on passing his vision of health care reform. He’s campaigned for it for weeks straight and it’s done him more harm than good. His approval ratings have crashed, only 23% believe Obamacare will reduce health care costs, and Republicans have led in Rasmussen’s Generic Congressional Ballot for five weeks straight.  We’re winning the battle against the President’s dream of a government run health care system.  This sell-out by the supposedly conservative Blue Dogs is nothing more than a last ditch counter attack by Pelosi-Obama Democrats in this political war for our American way of life.

We must now meet this surge by our political foes with all the force we can muster.  Fortunately, an alliance of conservative organizations has come up with a plan of attack.

At noon on Saturday, August 22, 2009, protests will take place at the local offices of US Congressmen across this land.  Rather than enjoy their annual August vacation, our elected representatives will be forced to acknowledge the overwhelming will of their constituents as we gather at a local Recess Rally to demand our Congressmen vote AGAINST any government-run, Socialist health care system.

These rallies will be held at every local office of every Congressman in the country.  Now is the time to stand up and be counted.  It’s the time to demand your representatives understand they work for us.  It’s our money they’re wasting and our lives on the line if they’re allowed to create the bureaucratic labyrinth envisioned by the Pelosi-Obama wing of the Democratic party.

Join us as we take to the streets and make our voices heard at a local Recess Rally at noon on Saturday, August 22, 2009!

Blue Dogs sell out, no details released

UPDATE: 2:08 pm CST–Blue Dog holdouts named

Today, leader of the Blue Dog Coalition in the US House Representative Mike Ross (D-AR) announced a deal has been reached between his supposedly fiscal conservative comrades and the left-wing leadership of the party of Pelosi and Obama. Virtually no details of the deal were released, although Ross stated one condition calls for a floor vote on the final bill no earlier than September, after the August recess.  Today’s deal will likely result in the compromise bill moving out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee by week’s end.

Ross said of the agreement, “It cuts the cost of the bill significantly by over $100 billion. It protects small businesses and it saves our rural hospitals and ensures that if there is a public option, it will be just that. It will be an option providing consumers more choices. It will not be mandated on anyone. And it now will clearly be on a level playing field.”  But again, we have no details.

The announcement will very likely give the President a boost as continues to plug for passage of Obamacare in Raleigh, NC and Bristol, VA town hall meetings today.  The Blue Dog standoff with Pelosi and Obama has taken a toll on the President’s popularity this month as details came to light from the previously released House version of the bill.  Rasmussen’s Presidential Approval Index hasn’t returned to positive territory since it first went negative at the end of June.  Recent days have seen his overall approval ratings stuck below 50%.  The lack of details from Ross and his Blue Dog comrades will give the President the freedom to claim success at his town hall without addressing what concessions were required.

Ross and other leaders of the Blue Dogs met Obama at the White House on July 21 where the President pushed them to stand with him, Pelosi, and the rest of the left-wing of the party in supporting the government-run health care system estimated to cost between $1-1.5 trillion over the next ten years.  That very day, Congressman Ross’ office posted news releases on his website announcing almost $81 million of pork for his home state.  Coincidence?  Possibly, but I doubt it.

The timing of his announcing such a huge amount of pork naturally lends one to wonder if he hadn’t reached a deal with the Obama-Pelosi syndicate back on the 21st.  If so, his apparent resistance to sign on could have been nothing more than a ruse to bolster his (not-so) conservative credentials with his constituents leading up to next year’s re-election campaign. Ross’ communications director hasn’t responded to messages left requesting a statement for this article.

Of the seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee, four are said to have flipped to the Pelosi-Obama side.  The three who continue to stand strong against government-run health care are Representatives Charlie Melancon (D-LA), John Barrow (D-GA), and Jim Matheson (D-UT).

Updates to follow as information comes available.

Blue Dogs Beginning to Stray from Pack

Remember eight short months ago?  When President Obama was elected in a landslide, Democrats gained large majorities in both houses of Congress, and liberals everywhere pronounced the demise of the Republican Party.  Though the newly elected President claimed to desire the input of Congressional Republicans, it quickly became obvious that Democrats’ definition of bipartisanship is for Republicans to accept whatever left-wing radical policies they propose.

Democrats celebrated their perceived mandate by rushing to implement sweeping legislation to enslave future generations of Americans by dramatically increasing the size of government with trillions of dollars of new debt.  The party that now controls the White House and both houses of Congress seemed to march in lockstep, as one.  Even the Blue Dog Democrats, supposedly fiscal conservatives, voted with radical House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to implement the crushing waves of debt and spending pushed by President Obama.  The Blue Dogs’ support of Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package and his bloated federal budget provided ammunition for the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) campaign against the self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Democrats.  These two pieces of legislation, more than any other, show the Blue Dog label is little more than a cloak worn to help win elections in conservative states and quickly shed immediately following elections when they believe their constituents are paying the least attention.

Suddenly though, the bonds that bind the Blue Dogs to the Pelosi/Obama wing of the Democratic Party are beginning to fray.  After several weeks of Obama’s approval numbers dropping in the polls, these Democrats who try to pass themselves off as conservatives to their constituents have begun to realize they may be in trouble next year if they continue to tow the ever-less popular Obama-Pelosi line.  Late last month saw numerous Blue Dogs abandon the Pelosi-Obama coalition to vote against the Cap & Trade energy tax.  Though the bill narrowly passed the House, Blue Dog Dems are making its passage in the Senate less than certain.  According to ARRA News Service, the Blue Dog Coalition is now placing Obama’s much heralded Health Care Reform in danger due to its uncertain (but guaranteed to be astronomical) costs.

As the ineffectiveness of Obama’s policies becomes more and more evident in coming days, expect the Blue Dogs to abandon more and more of the President’s platform to attempt to regain the favor of their conservative constituencies.  The August recess is right around the corner, and campaigning for next year’s elections will begin in earnest soon.  Blue Dogs know well they must tread lightly if they hope to be re-elected.

In six short months the American people have just about had their fill of President Obama’s brand of change and it’s making the Blue Dogs a little nervous.  Maybe, just maybe, this will be enough for the US to avoid complete conversion to Socialism in Obama’s first year as President.

NRCC Campaign Against (so-called) Blue Dogs

The NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) has launched a campaign against five Democratic representatives who proclaim themselves “Blue Dogs” (a label reserved for fiscally conservative Democrats) but vote consistently with their liberal left-wing colleagues in the US House. 

So far, they’ve published five radio ads that dispel the myth that Marion Berry (D-AR), Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Zack Space (D-OH), and John Tanner (D-TN) are the least bit conservative with the national checkbook.  You can listen to all five ads (and even download them) at the NRCC website.So, are these five as two-faced as the NRCC charges, or is this just a Republican attack on a soft spot in the Democrat’s armor?  Let’s take a look at each of the five and see if we can answer this question.

I’ll start with Marion Berry, because he happens to be my representative in Congress.  This page on Berry’s website will lead you to believe he stands for a balanced budget, is against excessive borrowing by the federal government, and fights against “reckless spending.”  That certainly sounds like a fiscally conservative Democrat, but an inspection of Berry’s votes on the Bank Bailout, the Auto Industry Bailout, Obama’s $787 billion Stimulus Spending Bill, and the latest Bloated Budget tells a different story.  Berry voted for all of these, supporting all of those things a “Blue Dog” Democrat supposedly opposes.

Score one for the NRCC.  Berry’s obviously conning his constituents with false claims of fiscal conservatism.

Here’s a video I made using the NRCC radio ad for audio.  Anyone should feel free to use it so we can replace Berry with a true fiscal conservative.

Score:  NRCC 1, Blue Dog Democrats 0.

We’ll focus on the same four bills as we examine the committment to fiscal responsibility of the other so-called Blue Dog Democrats targeted by the NRCC’s campaign.  In each case we’ll give the point to the NRCC if the Congressman voted for 3 of the 4 bills in our examination, the Blue Dog Democrats will receive the point if they voted against 2 or more of these bills.  

Congressman Zach Space of Ohio doesn’t have a stated position on the federal budget posted on his website, it doesn’t even appear on his Issues page.  That’s our first hint that Rep. Space simply adopted the Blue Dog monikker solely to help him remain in office with a conservative constituency.  As for our four bills, Space voted for all of them, for the Bank Bailout, for the Auto Industry Bailout, for the $787 billion Stimulus Spending Bill, and for the Bloated Budget.

Video set to NRCC radio ad.

Score:  NRCC 2, Blue Dog Democrats 0.

Next on our list is Charlie Melancon of Louisiana.  Melancon’s website statement on Tax Relief and Fiscal Accountability doesn’t even hint at responsible spending.  The entire statement is little more than a rant demanding the federal government take in enough money to support all the liberal social programs that drain Uncle Sam’s piggy bank and hamstring the economy.  (This is already looking bad for the Blue Dogs.)  A link on the same page takes you to this press release calling for reinstatement of the pay-as-you-go doctrine in Congress.  Melancon is quoted pounding his chest as he boasts on his Blue Dog credentials.  So let’s see how he voted on our four key bills–for the Bank Bailout, for the Auto Industry Bailout, for the $787 billion Stimulus Spending Bill, and finally, for the Bloated Budget.

Score:  NRCC 3, Blue Dog Democrats 0.

Next we’ll examine North Dakota Representative Earl Pomeroy’s fiscal conservatism credentials.  His Issues page doesn’t contain a statement on the federal budget or federal spending either.  (Must not be too important to him.)  But here’s a press release he issued praising the Obama budget as a “welcome relief from the budgets of his predecessor.”  (This stuff just keeps getting better.)

So how does Pomeroy stack up on our four key votes?  For the Bank Bailout, for the Auto Industry Bailout, for the $787 billion Stimulus Spending Bill, and for the Bloated Budget.  So much for fiscal conservatism.

Score:  NRCC 4, Blue Dog Democrats 0.

So the so-called Blue Dogs have one more hound in the game, one more chance to score a point in this contest.  Let’s see if they can get on the board.

Our last contestant will be Representative John Tanner of Tennessee.  His website doesn’t have a stand-alone Issues page, but this press release boasts of his contribution to introducing the aforementioned pay-as-you-go bill.  I guess that’s a better start than we’ve seen out of the other four we already examined on their Blue Dog Credentials. 

Now for the good part, the four key votes.  For the Bank Bailout, for the Auto Industry Bailout, for the $787 billion Stimulus Spending Bill, and for the Bloated Budget.  Geesh!

Final score:  NRCC 5, Blue Dogs 0.

Skunked!

Not only did the so-called Blue Dogs lose each of these five matches, they never even scored a point!  Every one of these self-proclaimed fiscally conservative Democrats has proven himself anything but remotely resembling a proponent of fiscal responsibility with these four votes! 

I’ll use the NRCC radio ads to make videos for each of the other four falsely labeled Blue Dogs soon.  Each time I finish one, I’ll update this post.  Anyone who wants to see true fiscal conservatives replace these five is free to use the videos as they see fit.  Let’s get the word out on these deceivers of their constituents and bring real fiscal conservatism to Washington in 2010.

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Hat Tip: ARRA News Service