The Wall Street Journal carries a profile of the House ‘Blue Dogs.’ And while they’re typically characterized as being ‘conservative’ Democrats, their real claim to fame–such as it is–is an insistence that new spending be accompanied by tax increases:
The Iraq supplemental funding bill marks a real departure for the Blue Dogs in this Congress. Already they’ve rolled over and supported several tax and spending bills that violated their avowed principles. And according to the Hill, they seem ready to do so again:
The Blue Dogs are quite useful to the Democratic leadership; they make House Democrats seems more conservative than they are, but they don’t actually affect the party’s agenda in any significant way. They’ve done nothing to reduce spending or the deficit, and more often than not they’ve bowed to the liberal leadership without even bothering to put up a fight. It’s time to recognize them for what they are: a marketing gimmick.
