In this past legislative session Congress has disappointed us on several occasions. While the Democrats regained the majority, it is not a party that is in lockstep. Conservative members in the party, known as blue dogs, have sided with the President on highly controversial....and unconstitutional measures, such as FISA. It is heart breaking to see members of Congress who were elected to change Congress become the status quo and a few of them did so as freshmen. One of those people is Chris Carney, representing the 10th district of Pennsylvania and groups like Blue America are sick of him.
From Politicker PA:
The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is turning on U.S. Rep. Chris Carney (D-Dimock), actively campaigning against the incumbent despite his difficult re-election bid against Republican Chris Hackett, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The political action committee Blue America is campaigning against Carney and other Democratic lawmakers it perceives aren't progressive enough, particularly after some sided with President George Bush's domestic-surveillance program. The paper reports the PAC has taken out radio, TV and newspaper ads against Carney, who considers himself a moderate Democrat, also known as a "Blue Dog."
"Our goal is to attach a real price to the type of things Chris Carney is doing. If that means he ends up losing, then so be it," said Glenn Greenwald, one of the group's organizers, told the Journal. "I would rather see a smaller majority but fewer Blue Dogs than a big majority with the Blue Dogs in charge."
Within the party, this is a highly controversial move. Democratic activists are supposed to be electing more D's, not less of them. The mantra on DailyKos and across the blogosphere is "more Democrats and then better Democrats." Well, we have more Democrats, currently the majority has a 30+ seat lead and will likely increase that number by a significant amount.
Personally I want to see a large majority, but what does it matter if members of your caucus put the interests of George Bush and the telecom lobby ahead of the people that think they are protected by the 4th amendment in the Constitution? Right now Carney and other Blue Dogs think they can get away with these kinds of votes as long as they go along with some of the party platform. Nancy Pelosi certainly hasn't been able or willing to herd the cats when push comes to shove. So now that we have more Democrats, we need to elect more Democrats with better progressive principles.....or else we'll just have more of the status quo under the guise of Democratic leadership.
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