Blue Dog Democrats or simply "Blue Dogs" have been more popular than DINO for describing heterodox Democrats.[2]
History
Origins
The phrase was used in 1908 by Alven B. Goodbar, a Democrat and president of the Goodbar Shoe Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, who replied to a request from the Democratic National Committee to make a donation to the Democratic Party candidate, William Jennings Bryan, by saying "I do not recognize Mr Bryan as a Democrat or as a true expounder of Democratic doctrines and principles. He is a Democrat in name only, while in fact he was originally a populist and by process of evolution has become a socialist."[3]
Usage
In his 1920 run for one of Georgia's seats in the United States Senate, Thomas E. Watson was denounced by the Valdosta Times newspaper as a "Democrat in name only.".[4] When William DeWitt Mitchell was appointed United States Attorney General in 1928 by President Herbert Hoover, the Chicago Tribune described Mitchell as a "Democrat in name only," arguing that "his record of the last few years has been Republican."[5] In 1936 United States Senator Edward R. Burke of Nebraska resigned his position as a member of the Democratic National Committee stating that he could not support "any candidate masquerading as a Democrat but who was a Democrat in name only," referring to Terry Carpenter, a Representative from Nebraska then running for the Senate.[6]
The term was used by left-leaning bloggers in 2005 to refer to Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, who they saw as being too conservative on foreign policy and an apologist for the Bush administration.[7] In 2010, the term was also used in reference to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson after voting not to confirm Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.[8]
^Kinsley, Philip (February 28, 1929). "GOOD SLATED FOR WAR SECRETARY; DONOVAN IS OUT: Mitchell to Be Hoover's Attorney General". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest180960548.
^"Burke Resigns His Democratic Post in Protest: Nebraska Senator Quits Committee, Says He Can't Back All Roosevelt Acts". New York Herald Tribune. August 26, 1936. ProQuest1240263926.
^"DEMOCRAT IN NAME ONLY? LEFTIST BLOGGERS DOG LIEBERMAN". Hartford Courant. March 13, 2005.
^"Chan Lowe: The Kagan confirmation". Sun-Sentinel. August 6, 2010.