Conservative Democrats are sometimes called Blue Dog Democrats. Grant explains why. Check out the work of George Rodrigue, the Blue Dog artist. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Blue Dog”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, my name is Stan Stackhouse. I’m calling from Indianapolis. I’m interested in the term blue dog Democrat. I gather that it means conservative. But beyond that, you know, I’d never heard the term before, and I’m wondering just how it came about and what you could tell me about it.
Huh. Well, you’ve got the right guy here. So do you know the term yellow dog Democrat?
No, I’m sorry, I don’t.
All right. Well, blue dog Democrat is kind of the inheritor of the tradition. Blue dog Democrat came about in the mid-90s during the Newt Gingrich era when he was more in power and more to the fore in politics. And these were people who realized that they weren’t completely in line with the Democratic Party views, but nor were they in line with Republican Party views. These are all Democrats, mind you. And so after the Republicans became a majority, they kind of formed a coalition, which they called the Blue Dog Coalition.
Now, the idea was, according to William Sapphire’s political dictionary, and I’m kind of summarizing here, the idea was that they were choked blue by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election. So these were people who had felt a little constrained because they were more conservative than the middle reaches of the Democratic Party.
I see. But there’s another layer to that. You ever heard of the artist George Rodrique? R-O-D-R-I-G-U-E.
The name’s familiar. I’m betting you’ve seen his work, even if you don’t realize you’ve seen it.
Okay. And he’s done this painting, now it’s a really famous painting of this blue dog. It’s got literally blue fur. The ears are perked up as if it’s just her, you know, a deer in the woods or its master call its name or something. And yellow eyes and the head’s cocked a little bit and it’s looking at you. And it’s kind of a, it’s a little creepy, right, Martha?
Yeah, it is. It is. He’s a Cajun artist. He’s of Cajun descent and lives in Louisiana. And he did this, a whole series, I mean, one painting after another of his dear departed dog. And he also painted some things that were mythical topics that had to do with Cajun lore and one of them was the Lugaroo or the Rugaroo, which was this sort of werewolf kind of character. And this dog looks kind of haunting but also really cute.
So there was a time when, Stan, when you’d see this blue dog in postcards and posters. I mean, every little gift shop had notebooks and the things with this dog was everywhere. It’s kind of a standalone icon of a sort of, I don’t know, it’s just art that people liked, I guess. In any case, so the Blue Dog Coalition said that that’s where they got the idea for the Blue Dog. And when they think about the Blue Dog, that’s the Blue Dog to think of. But, of course, they were also thinking of Yellow Dog Democrats. And these are kind of the opposite of Blue Dog Democrats in that they are completely loyal to the party. The joke is that they’re so loyal that if the Democratic Party nominated a Yellow Dog to run for office, they would vote for that dog.
Huh. Okay. So they’re kind of playing off that older term, and that term is, what, I don’t know, 100 years old, more or less? I just never heard the term blue dog, so I’m happy to know what it’s about.
Well, we’re happy to help. I’ll put some links online to some more information about the Blue Dog Democrats and about Blue Dogs and George Rodriguez.
Yeah, his little dog was named Tiffany, and it was a boy dog.
Okay. Thanks so much for calling, Stan.
Yes, thank you so much for your answers.
All right. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye. Well, if you have a question about a political term, call us 1-877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
