31 Of The 34 "Democrats" Who Voted Against Obamacare Were Ousted From Congress By Angry Constituents

I've never been a tremendous fan of the ACA (Obamacare)-- I favor letting everyone buy into Medicare (single payer universal)-- but I think it makes the dysfunctional American health care system a lot better than than it was before 2010. And I was gratified on Thursday, lying in a hospital bed at City of Hope hooked up to spinning machines taking out my blood to harvest stem cells and then recycling the blood back in me, when the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold the subsidies that make Obamacare functional for the most needy families among us. 

It should surprise no one, though, that right after Chief Justice Roberts, formerly a hero of the Tea Party, declared the ACA constitutional, far right extremists like Pat Toomey and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were rending their clothes and covering their bodies in ashes. As Philadelphia's KYW Newsradio 1060 reported: "For opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the fight switches back to repealing the law. Republican Senator Pat Toomey and presidential candidate Rick Santorum say that remains their mission."

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus huffed and puffed that "today’s ruling makes it clear that if we want to fix our broken health care system, then we will need to elect a Republican president." (How about Maine's Republican Governor Paul LePage?)

To most Democrats, the health care law is government at its most promising. Millions of previously uninsured people have obtained coverage. Rejecting coverage applicants for pre-existing conditions, which were particularly onerous to women, is gone. People under 26 can stay on their parents’ policies... Republicans put health care on a list with other examples of bloated government-- regulation of businesses, efforts at gun control, requiring businesses to deal with people whose lifestyles offend their religious beliefs-- and see a highly useful campaign issue. 
...Republicans were hoping the court would decide against this key part of the law -- and in turn give the party momentum as it argued for repeal during the 2016 election campaign.

Instead, Republicans now face huge hurdles.

Much of the public has had enough of this debate, now stretching into its seventh year. Since it was enacted, the Republican House of Representatives has voted more than 50 times to repeal it only to see its moves fall short; the court has ruled twice upholding the law; and President Barack Obama has won re-election over a GOP candidate who vowed to repeal and replace it.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey earlier this month found 45 percent of Americans believe it’s time to move on, percentages generally uniform across party lines. A Pew Research Center survey in September found 54 percent of Americans said the law had not had an effect on them or their family.

Back on March 21, 2010, late into the night, the House voted on a complex, heavily compromised piece of legislation and it wasn't only Republicans who opposed expanding health coverage for poor people. The Affordable Care Act passed 219-212 and that 212 includes every single Republican plus 34 putative Democrats. All but 3 of those Democrats were subsequently defeated or forced to retire before facing certain defeat. Some were beaten in primaries, but some were defeated because Democratic voters just stayed away from the polls and left the election to whichever nutcase Republican was running. The three that haven't been beaten yet are Blue Dog Collin Peterson (MN), Stephen Lynch (MA) and Blue Dog Dan Lipinski (IL). This is the whole list of "Democrats" who crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans against healthcare for the least well-off families in our country:

• John Adler ((Blue Dog-NJ)
• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)
• Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY)
• John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)
• Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR)
• Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)
• Rick Boucher (VA)
• Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)
• Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)
• Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)
• Artur Davis (Blue Dog-AL)
• Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)
• Chet Edwards (TX)
• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog-SD)
• Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA)
• Larry Kissell (Blue Dog-NC)
• Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)- needs a primary opponent
• Stephen Lynch (MA)
• Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA)
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
• Michael McMahon (Blue Dog-NY)
• Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)
• Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)
• Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- needs a primary opponent
• Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)
• Ike Skelton (MO)
• Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH)
• John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN)
• Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)
• Harry Teague (Blue Dog-NM)

That was the biggest part of the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse. Good to see them go! But... along comes another Blue Dog, Long Island corruptionist Steve Israel, with a policy of recruiting more Blue Dogs and their kissin' cousins, the New Dems, to replace the ones rejected by Democratic voters. And he's still doing it-- recruiting Blue Dogs, recruiting New Dems, even recruiting "ex"-Republicans. Of course, they never advertise these candidates as Blue Dogs or New Dems. 

So how is a voter or a contributor to know? Easy-peasy-- you will never find a Blue Dog or New Dem on this page. Because, never forget, today's Blue Dog or New Dem being pushed by the DCCC or DSCC can easily turn out to be this garbage: