All Politics is Local, Except When It's National

In 1980 and 1994, Republicans gained ground by nationalizing congressional elections. Democrats did the same thing in 2006 and 2008. Now it's the GOP's turn again.

Former Representative Ed Bethune (R-AR), who was a leader of the House Republican revival of the late 1970s, lays out a line of attack against Blue Dog Democrats:

The modus operandi of these politicians: 1) Get elected to national office in Arkansas by claiming to be a conservative Democrat. 2) In Washington, use the “go along to get along” strategy to appease the liberals who control the national Democrat party. 3) When running for re-election deny “going along to get along.” Claim to be a conservative, not an enabler for the liberal agenda.

This year, thanks to the extreme agenda of President Barack Obama, the Blue Dog hoax is revealed. On the first day of this congress they voted for Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco liberal, to be Speaker of the House. Then, there were votes for the $3.9 trillion Obama budget, the pork-laden and debt-producing stimulus bill, and the terribly flawed health care bill. These votes stripped away the façade behind which the Blue Dogs have been hiding for years. Their constituencies-spitting mad-saw what they were doing.

As political scientist William Connelly puts it, "All politics is local, except when it's national."