Often on the Daily Kos I read broad brush statements dismissive of blue dog Democrats. They are called DINOs, and wana be Republicans. “Sellouts, primary them all”, “let’s start with the better, then we’ll work on the more”, no subtlety, no shades of grey.
Last week a Blue Dog advocate of immigrant rights and strong supporter of Health Care Reform was shot in the head. She is known to her friends as Gabby Giffords. Yesterday in the New York Times I read a long and interesting profile of just who Congresswoman Giffords is and where she is coming from. http://www.nytimes.com/...
You see Ms Giffords wasn’t the only Blue Dog whose district had the image of a gun sight over it on Ms. Palins infamous map. Two congresspeople in my state did too. One a Hispanic with long intergenerational ties to his district just as did Ms Giffords, and the other a fire cracker of a woman who when I saw her at a county level Democratic meeting had to grab the microphone and lower it a foot so that she could stand on tip toes and whip up the crowd with a barn burner of a speach, the best of the day.
All three of these Dems at great risk to their careers voted for Health Care. Congresswoman Giffords kept her seat, the others didn’t. It’s quite a thing in this day and age to cast a vote knowing that it might well be the thing that costs you your seat in congress.
I’d urge anyone who hasn’t yet done so to go take a look at the profile in the Times. What a great woman. Congresswoman Giffords. Immigrant advocate, border enforcer, and a half brother named Alejandro who lives in Mexico City,owner of a Glock and a second amendment supporter, Cornell alumni who grew up on horses. A motorcycle rider who switched to a bike to make her carbon footprint smaller. Gabrielle Giffords has given quite a bit to her country.