Colorful Democrats

We Democrats are a colorful bunch. We have Yellow Dogs, Blue Dogs and Red Dogs. We're a fractious bunch and it's crucial that our leaders have the ability to keep us together. Many of them compare that task to herding cats.

Yellow Dogs are those who, it is said, would even vote for a yellow dog if it were running as a Democrat. They vote the straight ticket, every time and expect every other Democrat to do the same. Blue Dogs are the conservative, some say DINO, wing. These are people who vote with the GOP on crucial social issues. Congressman Tim Holden is an example. Red Dogs tend to be the progressives and they support only those Democrats who support their values and principles. They seldom support a Blue Dog for example.

Red Dogs can get offended by Yellow Dogs who condemn them for not always supporting the Blue Dogs. The Yellow Dogs get angry at the Red Dogs for not supporting everyone. It gets very confusing. Sometimes it's just one big dogfight.

All this gets to my point: we must have leaders who respect each group and what their beliefs are and who can bring the various factions together for the common good: winning elections. Leaders who do so are successful, those who don't fail.