Throughout 2009, the right wing Blue Dog Coalition of Democrats in the House of Representatives has worked to thwart the legislative agenda of the Democratic Party, hobbling both climate change legislation, health care reform, and interfering with efforts to restore the recognition of citizens constitutional rights. Many Democrats, even some liberals, have excused this obstruction by saying that the Democratic Party benefits from majority control in both houses of Congress, and that many Democratic members of the House have no choice but to act as Blue Dogs, supporting the Republican agenda. It’s said that if the Blue Dogs were to support the progressive agenda that the Democratic Party as a whole keeps promising to advance, they would be voted out of office and replaced with Republicans. Right wing Democrats can hold onto office better than progressive Democrats, it’s said.

That’s a persuasive argument, in the abstract. The problem is that it isn’t supported by the facts. The facts show that the GOP uses Blue Dog membership as a way to identify Democrats to target.

The Republican Party’s support organizations frequently send emails out to their members, urging special pressure to be placed on Blue Dog Democrats in Congress, because they are members of the Blue Dog Coalition. The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee directs additional resources to candidates running against Blue Dogs, too.

Now, Republican members of Congress are getting in on the act. They’re directing their constituents to call Blue Dog Democrats representing other districts, in order to pressure them to vote with the congressional Republicans. Consider the most recent “news item” on the official congressional web site of Republican U.S. Representative John Shadegg: It’s a list of of Blue Dog Democrats, posted at the end of last week so that constituents would know which Democrats to target before a vote on the House health care reform legislation.

Blue Dogs are like ailing wildebeest out on the African savannah who, in order to help lions tracking the herd identify them as easy to pick off, have painted a big blue X on their flanks. This self-identified vulnerability doesn’t help the Blue Dogs remain in office. It just helps the Republicans in Congress continue to get their way, even though the Democrats have majority control in name.