There’s really is no such thing as a “moderate” Democrat in Congress, Save Jerseyans. Not by historical standards. Even the likes of Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who still caucuses with the Dems after switching parties, boasts only a 10% lifetime rating from Heritage Action. That’s not a “centrist.” Joe Manchin? 20% lifetime but only 11% for the current session.
New Jersey’s Josh Gottheimer (D, NJ-05) – whose own lifetime rating is 3% – fancies himself a moderate and works very hard to cultivate that illusion. He’s a leader of the “problem solvers” caucus and a member of the “blue dog” coalition. Both groups’ influence is on the wane. It’s a sign of the times that the Blue Dogs are down to only nine members including Gottheimer; founded in the ’90s as a response to Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution, the caucus reached as many as 64 members as recently as the aftermath of Election 2008.
The current leadership of the Blue Dogs says they want to change that, but according to a report from Fox News, one of the co-chairs has an interesting plan:
Speaking during a “Postcarding and Conversation” late last month, Washington Democrat Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez – who co-chairs the Blue Dog Coalition with Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska – said that she and other leadership within the coalition are working to “rebuild” the group after it lost some of its membership over disagreements earlier this year.
“So Jared, Mary, and I actually just took over the Blue Dogs,” Gluesenkamp Perez said during the July 31 event, which was hosted by the Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, a group of so-called progressive activists in New York City, and Markers for Democracy. “They basically lost some of their membership before we came in, and we are sort of rebuilding it into – Mary, Jared, and I – are rebuilding it into this sort of antifascist rural [group].”
Antifascist rural?
As Fox points out in its piece, “Antifascist” is usually code for “Antifa,” the notorious far-Left domestic terror network which has perpetrated violence and terrorized Portland for years. Quite the rebrand!
Gottheimer – whose district is mostly suburban and definitely not Antifa-friendly – is ambitious. It’s widely-expected that he’ll eventually be a candidate for statewide office as soon as the 2025 gubernatorial primary (or maybe even 2024 if Bob Menendez resigns due to his latest scandal?). He may soon need to make a decision regarding whether the Blue Dog farce is worth the trouble if Gluesenkamp Perez gets her way.
