Ho, Ho, Holden -- Blue Dog or Blue Fraud?
by Holden Watch
According to the Washington Post, as of the close of 2009 business in the United States House of Representatives, the party unity average for 261 Democratic members was 92.3%. In other words the average Democratic member voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi about 92 out of 100 times.
There is a group of Democrats in the House that identifies itself as "Blue Dog," or conservative, Democrats. The origin of that term is lost in the mists. Several apocryphal definitions remain, but the term has become virtually meaningless since the Democrats achieved the majority in 2006 and expanded it in 2008. No other group in Congress has the Blue Dogs' recent history of caving in to party leadership pressure.
Nonetheless, the Blue Dogs surely bring down the votes-with-party average for the caucus, right?
Perhaps some of them do.
But, you ask, what about OUR Blue Dog, Rep. T. Timothy Holden? He represents himself as a fiscal and social conservative. Surely he doesn't vote with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi very much. His voting record must be one of the lowest scores to calculate the average, right?
Au contraire.
In the first term of the current Congress, Holden voted with Pelosi 96.1% of the time, more than 19 out of twenty times, the same as in the last Congress. Almost four full percentage points more than the AVERAGE Democrat. More, even, than Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-UFO) voted with Mrs. Pelosi.
Think of it. Tim Holden, a self-described conservative politician from a right-leaning district voted with Nancy Pelosi, the most left-liberal Speaker in House history, significantly more times than the average Democrat did.
Tim Holden: Blue Dog? Or Blue Fraud?
Happy New Year, District 17. Rest well. Your country - and your community - is in the very best of hands.