Democratic Dogs - An Informative Post
Feb. 24th, 2003 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muscadineOne of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
burkean's posts prompted a question about what exactly a "Yellow Dog" is. The Yellow Dog in question is the Yellow Dog Democrat. This is probably an obscure term for many, but it is still quite common usage in many regions of the South, where the term originated. A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who votes for Democrats, well, pretty much indiscriminately. They are extreme party loyalists. Variable formulations of the origin are that "I/He/She/They'd vote for a yellow dog before I/He/She/They'd vote for a Republican" or "If they put a yellow dog on the ticket, I'd still vote Democrat."
It apparently gained prominence during the 1928 presidential campaign, when many southern Democrats reluctantly voted for the Democratic nominee Al Smith. It didn't have anything to do with slavery or segregation. Rather it had to do with anti-Catholic sentiment. The Protestant South was reluctant because Smith was Catholic and anti-prohibition. Perhaps notably for burkean, Texas was a "defector" state that largely supported Hoover. The Yellow Dog label was originally and still is worn with pride by those who claim it, but of course there are also detractors who use it in a derogatory sense. Of course, usually these detractors are knee-jerk Republicans. :D
Perhaps the symbol for the Democratic party should be the Dog instead of the Donkey, because there is also a relatively new doggie-based term for Democrats. That is the Blue Dog Democrat. Blue Dog Democrats are U.S. House Representatives, and are in some ways ideological opposites of the Yellow Dog voter. They are not particularly partisan (in fact, their political power lies in their ability to negotiate deals with the Republican majority, and one of the "founders" switched to the Republican party). They are also not specifically Southern (neither are Yellow Dogs, but the term is generally only used in the South because of its origins), though many of them are Southern. They tend towards conservative economic policy and moderate social policy. Their goal is a centrist agenda, usually carried out by seeking coalitions with moderate Republicans.
Here's an informative page from CSPAN that focuses on Blue Dogs, but brings up Yellow Dogs as well.
burkean's posts prompted a question about what exactly a "Yellow Dog" is. The Yellow Dog in question is the Yellow Dog Democrat. This is probably an obscure term for many, but it is still quite common usage in many regions of the South, where the term originated. A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who votes for Democrats, well, pretty much indiscriminately. They are extreme party loyalists. Variable formulations of the origin are that "I/He/She/They'd vote for a yellow dog before I/He/She/They'd vote for a Republican" or "If they put a yellow dog on the ticket, I'd still vote Democrat." It apparently gained prominence during the 1928 presidential campaign, when many southern Democrats reluctantly voted for the Democratic nominee Al Smith. It didn't have anything to do with slavery or segregation. Rather it had to do with anti-Catholic sentiment. The Protestant South was reluctant because Smith was Catholic and anti-prohibition. Perhaps notably for burkean, Texas was a "defector" state that largely supported Hoover. The Yellow Dog label was originally and still is worn with pride by those who claim it, but of course there are also detractors who use it in a derogatory sense. Of course, usually these detractors are knee-jerk Republicans. :D
Perhaps the symbol for the Democratic party should be the Dog instead of the Donkey, because there is also a relatively new doggie-based term for Democrats. That is the Blue Dog Democrat. Blue Dog Democrats are U.S. House Representatives, and are in some ways ideological opposites of the Yellow Dog voter. They are not particularly partisan (in fact, their political power lies in their ability to negotiate deals with the Republican majority, and one of the "founders" switched to the Republican party). They are also not specifically Southern (neither are Yellow Dogs, but the term is generally only used in the South because of its origins), though many of them are Southern. They tend towards conservative economic policy and moderate social policy. Their goal is a centrist agenda, usually carried out by seeking coalitions with moderate Republicans.
Here's an informative page from CSPAN that focuses on Blue Dogs, but brings up Yellow Dogs as well.
