The Bush Dog Campaign and Maryland

by: Isaac Smith

Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 12:39 PM EDT

As you may know, the dynamic duo of Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers are currently engaged in a campaign directed at certain moderate and conservative Democrats who have been voting with the Bush administration on key issues, including Iraq and the warrantless wiretapping law. Called "Bush Dogs," after the fact that many of these Democrats are members of the Blue Dog caucus, these Dems have capitulated over and over to the Bush administration -- creating, in Stoller's words, a working conservative majority in Congress. As progressives, we have to do something to get them to start voting with their party and with the American people, who want to bring our troops home from Iraq and don't want Bush's Justice Department to have unchecked surveillance powers. Already the camapaign has generated some buzz; check out Open Left to see for yourself.

Now, of the 30 or so members listed as Bush Dogs, none are from Maryland -- but that's not to say this campaign shouldn't concern Marylanders. If it hadn't been for Donna Edwards, Al Wynn would likely be on that list as well -- though apart from Iraq and warrantless wiretapping, he's still a problematic Democrat. Likewise, Dutch Ruppersberger (like Wynn) made a similar list in the American Prospect a few years ago for his votes against the middle class:

After the 2000 census provided a redistricting opportunity, Maryland's Democratic General Assembly, according to The Almanac of American Politics, literally designed the district for Ruppersberger, who had served both as a prosecutor and as Baltimore County executive (the job once held by Spiro Agnew). First elected in 2002, Ruppersberger won the seat last time with 67 percent of the vote. “I have the most conservative of the Democratic seats held by members of Congress from Maryland,” he insists. “We were able to get the seat back because of my moderate record.” Maybe; but John Kerry carried the district comfortably, 54 percent to 45 percent. Yet Ruppersberger has one of the most pro-Republican records in the House on pocketbook issues. A personal friend of Charles Cawley, president of the financial giant MBNA, Ruppersberger championed the bankruptcy bill and garnered $17,250 from the financial industry. He also voted to cap lawsuits, and for estate-tax repeal. On his bankruptcy vote, Ruppersberger explains, “It was a hard bill, and I put in several amendments that would exempt people with medical bills” from going bankrupt. His amendments lost, but he voted for the bill anyway.

In fairness, Ruppersberger voted against the warrantless wiretapping bill, but did vote for continued war funding without enforceable benchmarks this year.

A bigger concern, however, is the leadership in the Democratic Party enabling these Bush Dogs, and by extension, Bush and the Republicans. DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen, for example, is apparently very concerned that Stoller and Bowers' campaign will hurt his ability get more Democrats elected to Congress in 2008. And of course, if the conservative wing of the party has a friend in the leadership, it would be House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. indeed, a sizeable portion of congressional Democrats have come to believe that taking hard stances against President Bush and the Republicans on these national security matters willl make them unpopular. The thing is, they're already unpopular -- and it's because they're not stopping the war in Iraq or protecting our civil liberties. Until Democrats start listening to the American people, and stop listening to the Beltway pundits and the Republicans who continue to cheer on Bush's policies, they will continue to lose respect -- and maybe even their reelection campaigns.

This is a problem that extends even to progressive Dems: For reasons I still have yet to discover, our own Barbara Mikulski voted for both the war funding bill and the domestic surveillance bill mentioned above. And today, Stoller turned up this little nugget from Ben Cardin, validating GOP talking points:

"If you just say you're standing up for civil liberties, the American people are with you, but if you say terrorism suspects should have civil liberties, it stretches Americans' tolerance," said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), who along with Hastings represents Congress on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a human rights monitor. "It's a tough issue for us."

While it might be comforting to think that it's only a small group of men and women who are keeping a progressive policy agenda from prevailing in Congress, the capitulation mindset goes much deeper, and it will take a lot of time and effort to root it out.

UPDATE: For a critical view of the Bush Dog campaign, see this post by Ed Kilgore.