Seems most folks here are happy about the Blue Dogs losing 29 seats and turning them over to Republicans. Even Kos seems to have that view of things, and this confuses me since I thought this site was all about favoring the Democrats.
If you are happy to see Blue Dogs lose their seats, do you think that the Republicans elected instead will vote with the Democrats more often? Meteorblades has a diary where he proposes that now we will be able to nominate better Democrats for those seats next election. I have to asssume this is what most here who are happy about losing Blue Dog Dem seats are thinking, and this is delusional.
In the vast majority of cases these Blue Dogs were elected by majority Republican districts. "Better" Democrats will never win most of them. And these 29 seats can easily be the difference between Democrat majority or Republican.
Look at Giffords in AZ-08, for example. Blue Dog that voted with the Dems significantly more than any Republican did, in a Republican majority district formerly held by the Republicans for over two decades. Her opponent was recognized as the "most terrifying" candidate of the entire election by Slate because he sought out and was given the endorsement of a group with strong Neo-Nazi ties. He also wants to shut down the FDA, the Department of Education, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Other than that he wants to end the minimum wage, the fourty hour workweek, end all corporate taxes...
Giffords has strong community ties, plenty of money, and she runs very smart and very hard with well organized campaigns and lots of volunteers. She is ahead by a few thousand votes with around 35,000 waiting to be counted. Against an insane right-wing fringe candidate. She really is "best case scenario" for the Democrats in this district; the chances of finding a "better" Democrat who can win in AZ-08 range from absolutely impossible to no f-ing way in hell.
So talking about being happy if Giffords lost, another Blue Dog down, is delusional. If you would really prefer a nutjob Neo-Nazi take and hold the seat instead of seeing a smart, sane, Blue Dog Democrat there, then I guess I do not understand the purpose of this site at all. Someone who votes with the Progressive Democrats half the time is better than someone who never ever votes with them, in my opinion. Democrats in control of the House would be better than Republicans in control, in my opinion. It seems like most here disagree with me on both points, and so I just want to ask, WTF?