Borillar
Platinum Member
You mean they vote against Democrat Bills whenever it doesn't matter. If it does matter, then they vote as Pelosi orders.
False. They told Pelosi to fuck off when they killed the Public Option, which effectively destroyed the most significant piece of Democratic legislation since Medicare. In effect, they turned it into RomneyCare, which left the current monopolized insurance system fully in tact. They also refused to move taxes back to the Clinton rates, preferring instead to side with the GOP and split the difference. Again, they told Pelosi to fuck off on the most important issues of the Obama presidency.
An equivalent piece of legislation would have been if a coalition inside the GOP blocked the full implementation of the Bush Tax Cuts or the Iraq War. This didn't happen. The GOP House and Senate actually supported war funding after the war became unpopular and political suicide. GOP Senators and House members from "Purple" states knowingly cast votes that would result in losing their seats. Why? Because the GOP simply does not tolerate dissent. The Left has long supported a centrist faction. The Right, however, no longer allows any variation from the party line. Politicians who stray from the Far Right are eliminated in the primaries, whereas Blue Dog Democrats are allowed to oppose Pelosi and Obama without any recourse. This is why Lieberman, who helped McCain run against Obama, was welcomed back with open arms. The Democrats give their politicians freedom to oppose the party. The leadership on the Right, however, exercises total control over their members. If you fuck with Dick Chaney or the Koch brothers, you lose your job. Period. End of story.
Of course, when the Republicans vote in lockstep as they always do, it's called "party discipline".