11.03.10
The Fake Republicans
Krugman notes:
What actually happened, of course, was that Obama failed to do enough to boost the economy, plus totally failing to tap into populist outrage at Wall Street. And now we’re in the trap I worried about from the beginning: by failing to do enough when he had political capital, he lost that capital, and now we’re stuck.
But he did have help in getting it wrong: at every stage there was a faction of Democrats standing in the way of strong action ..
Which leads to the phenomenon of the Blue Dogs, or Democrats who try to be fake Republicans.
Pennsylvania has a load of them and here in Pasadena we’re stuck with Adam Schiff.
With Adam Schiff, one holds the nose while voting because there’s never anyone from the GOP who even remotely resembles a human being on southern California ballots.
In Pennsylvania, however, three of them — Chris Carney, Patrick Murphy, and Kathy Dahlkemper — lost their seats.
Tim Holden, from Schuylkill County, did not. He should show some stones and change party affiliation, like Arlen Specter in reverse. And Jason Altmire retained his seat.
The Blue Dogs found that GOP voters don’t go for fake Republicans. Half of them lost their seats. And why should they? Who likes the feckless who lack the nerve to identify themselves as they really are?
Third-tier Republicans.
Those Blue Dogs who kept their seats? I’m betting it was because the GOP had trouble nominating opponents who weren’t obvious criminals in their respective districts.