Yellow vs. Blue Dog Democrat. . . .

This week in the news they kept talking about how the "Blue Dog Democrats" were holding up the passage of the Obamacare bill. . . .(You know the Socializing of Health Care in America.)

I kept wondering. . . . What the heck is a "Blue Dog Democrat"? I have always heard my daddy say that he was a "Yellow Dog Democrat". Of course it is hard to change an 80 years old mind, but I keep trying. :) :) He is still a big believer in the "New Deal*" and "WPA" Program (Works Progress Administration) that was created under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which created jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. (now historians say the "New Deal" prolonged the Great Depression for many years)

Well, wonder no more, because according to wikipedia.com here is the definitions of "Yellow Dog Democrat" and "Blue Dog Democrat" and the "New Deal". . . .(I like the "Blue Dog Democrats" the best, because they actually use the word "conservatism" and "accountability" and I didn't know any Democrat did that)

Yellow Dog Democrat: Commencing in the late 19th century, the term Yellow Dog Democrats was applied to U.S. Southern voters who voted solely for Democratic candidates because Abraham Lincoln was the Republican president who led the Union against the Confederacy, and so implies that they would "vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican". Currently, the term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight Party ticket under any circumstances.

Blue Dog Democrat: The Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is a group of currently 52 moderate and conservative Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives, first formed in 1995. The Blue Dogs promote, among other things, fiscal conservatism and accountability.

*The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a complex package of economic programs he effected between 1933 and 1935 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting Recovery of the economy during the Great Depression.

Most of the relief programs were shut down during World War II by the Conservative Coalition (i.e., the opponents of the New Deal in Congress). Many regulations were ended during the wave of deregulation from 1971 to 1999. Several New Deal programs remain active, with some still operating under the original names, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The largest programs still in existence today are the Social Security System, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Fannie Mae.