The Hill Gets It Wrong-- Real Democrats Embrace Healthcare Reform As Blue Dogs Slink Off To Perfect The Creigh Deeds Strategy

Aaron Blake seems like a decent enough writer at The Hill but sometimes... I just get the idea those headlines come right from the RNC communications department. Like yesterday's: Few Dems In Big Races Jump Headlong Into Backing Health Bill. Unless he meant "Few Blue Dogs," he sure has that wrong, wrong, wrong.

The suicidal Blue Dogs and fellow travelers (like Artur Davis, the cowardly conservative making a hopeless run for the Alabama governor's mansion) are hell bent on following the Creigh Deeds campaign strategy of turning off the Democratic base and hoping Republicans will forget they're Republicans who vote for other Republicans when they get to the ballot box. It didn't work for Deeds-- in fact it didn't work for him spectacularly, as his dumbass remark about opting out of the public option kept Democrats home on Election Day while an Obama 6 point margin over McCain turned into an 18 point deficit for the hapless conservative quasi-Dem. But Democrats from that (home) school-- like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), and Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA) seem determined to ride that strategy to political oblivion. They won't be missed-- not even by John Boehner, who has come to count on their perfidy for his own ends.

Blake starts his story by admitting that the only reticence respectable, non-Blue Dog candidates have is the hideous billing-killing anti-Choice amendment that Bart Stupak worked with the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops to put into the bill. Within minutes of the House passing the bill, Senate candidates like Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fischer in Ohio, Mike Capuano and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, and Kirsten Gillibrand and Jonathan Tasini in New York were on the warpath against it, though all three pairs are major supporters of meaningful health care reform.

Blake points to Senate candidates, Robin Carnahan in Missouri, flirting with the Creigh Deeds strategy, and two conservative non-starters in Texas, Bill White and John Sharp, who have fully embraced it.

Among Senate candidates currently serving in the House, four Democrats voted for the bill, while one voted against it.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) voted for the bill last weekend but now says he would oppose a bill with the Stupak language.

Among the other supporters, Reps. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) are both running in swing states, while Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) is challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) from the left.

All three proudly cast their votes on the bill, and all three were met with criticism from the GOP opponents.

The lone dissenter, [reactionary Blue Dog] Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), is running against Republican Sen. David Vitter in deep red Louisiana. Melancon was highly critical of the bill, saying: “I can’t support a government-run insurance option that the people of Louisiana don't want.”

...Among House candidates, some running in swing or conservative districts have expressed support for the bill, including physicians Ami Bera and Manan Trivedi, who are running against Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and for the seat of Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), respectively.

“It’s a good first step that’s starting to move the conversation forward,” Bera told The Hill. “There’s still obviously a lot that needs to be worked through.”

Trivedi said the bill was a “strong step in the right direction,” but that system-wide clinical reform is needed.

Conversely, candidates like Palm Springs, Calif., Mayor Steve Pougnet are hedging their bets and waiting to see what bill comes out of the Senate and conference committee.

Pougnet is challenging Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.).

“Mayor Pougnet is committed to reform and, although he believes there are many more questions to be answered, he wants to ensure the process advances and looks forward to seeing what develops in the Senate,” said spokesman Jordan Marks.

Pougnet is a social liberal-- he's an upfront gay man legally married to another man-- but he's a frightened and confused conservative who would be a surefire recruit for the Blue Dog caucus in the extremely unlikely event that he can rescue himself from Creigh Deedsism, a strategy that is tailor-made for him. Meanwhile, I've been barraged with e-mails from dozens and dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers campaigning for healthcare reform. Blake has to either stop letting the RNC write his headlines... or stop mixing up Blue Dogs with real Democrats.

Learn more about Blue America's plans to rid Congress of as many mangy Blue Dogs as possible.