When a Yellow Dog is Better than a Red Elephant

We have all become very familiar with the blue dog Democrats. The origin of their name comes from a play on the term 'yellow dog' Democrat(referring the extremely liberal Democrats choking yellow dogs blue). The phrase yellow dog Democrat originated in the 1900 Kentucky gubernatorial race during an internal democratic party uprising. Theodore Hallam, a prominent party member was speaking against the Democrats candidate when he was asked by a member of the crowd how he could be speaking against a Democratic candidate when at the state convention he had said that if the party had nominated a yaller dog, he would have voted for it.

He responded saying "I admit that I said then what I now repeat, namely, that when the Democratic party of Kentucky, in convention assembled, sees fit in its wisdom to nominate a yaller dog for the governorship of this great state, I will support him — but lower than that ye shall not drag me!" (Exit Laughing, by I.S. Cobb)

The yaller, or yellow dog Democrats represent the wing of the democratic party who for better or worse, will vote for a Democratic candidate no matter what. However, what concerns me, for want of a better term, are yellow dog republicans.

For a frighteningly large percentage of the population, politics is similar to spectator sports. Just like the way that the faithful have their team and stick to it, many people on both sides of the aisle will vote for any candidate as long as he has a D or R next to his/her name.

However, the anti-intellectual movement within the GOP has resulted in a congress where many of the GOP's elected representatives seem to be as far from the paragons of our society as possible. Representatives such has Congresswoman Bachman have the temperament of a rabid animal.

Four years ago, members of congress were committing egregious pork barreling. While this may have been awful for the nation, at least they were trying to serve their districts in earnest (or at least to get re-elected). Now the GOP has hardened into a defensive shell removing itself from the legislative process. Republican members of congress are playing solely to win the game of politics, without any thought to actual governance (even more than usual).

Which brings me back to the yellow dog. How long will the Republican base take to wake up and nominate to represent them a fine upstanding yellow dog?