Blue Dog's in Congress

Good LAT piece about what may happen when the Dems take back congress. The piece ponders whether a Democratic victory in the House would be the liberal love fest everyone predicts, including republicans:




Or instead as a byproduct of running conservative Democratic candidates to win conservative house seat, we're actually in for a much more conservative congress when we take back the House and the Senate in November.

The article fits well within my fellow blogger's discussion of liberalness vs. winningness. Do we sacrifice our ideals to take back the country, or are we merely feeding the fire of a conservative take over by serving up Bush Light.

I think that the answer lies somewhere in between abandoning ourselves and abandoning the South. As much as I'd like to, we cannot just leave the conservative parts of America for dead and move on forward our liberal agenda. Clearly the Republican vision for America does not work. But just because that's true, doesn't mean we liberals are given the mandate to do whatever we want. We need to convince people. And that will take time, and compromises.

At this point in the debate, Democrats need to present solutions to the problems America faces before we can expect people to buy into our ideology and agenda. If that means sleeping with some blue dogs, so be it. Only when the Democrats can prove to America that we can be trusted can real change occur, and can we really start converting people's hearts and minds.