The media in general, and the Washington punditocracy^* protray the “Blue Dog Democrats” as brave people standing up to the extremists in their party. Chris Bowers makes a convincing argument that the opposite is true, that these are folks who are the most extreme sort of hysterical fear.

The concluding ‘graph:

Blue Dogs actually seem like the most scared people in all of Washington, D.C. as a result of this article. They are afraid of Republican attacks. They are afraid of conservative pundits. They are afraid of their constituents. They are afraid of motions to recommit that are meaningless in terms of actual policy. And they are protected by Emanuel and Hoyer, who seem petrified of all the same things. They seem to all operate in a perpetual state of fear, despite their surface machismo. And yes, it does seem like fear, rather than simply conservative beliefs in this case, because otherwise why would they be in favor of a meaningless procedural motion that has nothing to do with policy? The widespread fear in the tough guy wing of the Democratic Party is one of the great ironies of modern American politics.

I would add that not only does this make it more difficult to accomplish things, their behavior reinforces Republican attacks against the Democrats as without principle, or guts, and never willing to take a step to do the right thing.

It is a tragedy of the commons. By acting in their own perceived (and only perceived, look at Ron Paul, whose support is driven by his forthrightness, not the policies involved) best interest, they destroy the common resource of productive political discourse.

^*Which might be better described as a Kakistocracy.