With Democrats like Dan Boren who needs ...

[Hometown]

I've been looking for an Oklahoma Democrat that I can believe in and for that reason I've paid some attention to Dan Boren.  During the health care debate I noted his opposition to health care reform and emailed his office expressing my disappointment.  His office responded with a boilerplate statement about the need for tort reform to cure our healthcare woes.  Later published reports stated he was working to limit funding for abortions.
 
I got a little more insight this past Sunday in an article by Jim Myers of the World's Washington Bureau headlined, Boren:  Democrats may lose Congress.

In that article Boren is quoted as saying, a setback for Democrats would be a "good thing for Oklahoma and for me."  The article goes on to list Boren's differences with the Party on healthcare and cap and trade.  He opines that Republican victories would put him in the driver's seat with greater power in the next Congress.  He wasn't asked, why he wasn't able to leverage any wins for Oklahoma in the current Congress, when many others did, or why he doesn't believe that healthcare legislation that will benefit his constituents is a virtue.

Mr. Boren goes on to say that despite his disagreement he "would never switch parties."

Now, Dan Boren is certainly not the only Democrat in Oklahoma to lose touch with Democratic core values.  Oklahoma Democrats in general have alienated their base and failed their constituents.  But while Dan Boren may always be a Democrat, my hope is that he can be removed from office and marginalized.  Our state Democratic Party needs to reinvent itself.  With Democrats like Dan Boren who needs Republicans.

[Red Arrow]

Democrats like Boren make me willing to consider a Democrat if/when the Republican party puts up some religious wacko.

[Nik]

So what Democratic platforms does Boren agree with?

[Conan71]

Boren is a DINO, or basically what a Democrat was in the 1960's when they were still pretty socially conservative.

[cecelia]

Actually, the Democrats pre-Civil Rights movement were Dixiecrats, or Southern Democrats who supported segregation, etc. When the Civil Rights movement began to have effect, most of these Dixiecrats moved to the Republican party, with the exception of a few, examples of which can be found all over rural Oklahoma.

A DINO is a Democrat in Name Only, which describes a lot of Democrats these days. That category can overlap with Dixiecrat, but they aren't the same.

Edited to add: Boren is a Blue Dog, too. Blue Dogs are moderate to conservative Dems and (usually) fit the category of DINO. More about them here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Dog_Coalition

[OUGrad05]

Democrats like Boren make me willing to consider a Democrat if/when the Republican party puts up some religious wacko.

I couldn't agree more.  I have nothing against religious people I myself am a Christian.  But i do not want my views forced on the rest of society which the far right seems to view as perfectly acceptable.  Dan Boren is the type of Democrat I can support, he's free thinking and looking out for the nation, not just his re-election bid. 

[FOTD]

He's David Boren's sock puppy....

[Hometown]

Well I'm certainly not surprised that local Republicans aren't put off by Dan Boren.  The net effect of Oklahoma Democrats trying to "out Republican the Republicans" is that Oklahomans have no choice.  We have one Party.  And middle and working classes with no representation at all.

I was looking at Mr. Potato Head Henry lament the possibility that the current economic downturn might cause us to abandon the "most vulnerable among us," and thought, what the hell does this yokel think has been going on for the past 30 years.  What does this sad excuse for a Democrat think he has been doing by enforcing 1804.  I say go back to Shawnee and leave us alone.

I'm still waiting to find a real Democrat in Oklahoma and I'm not hopeful.  But the status quo here is 30 some odd years old and quite worn out and fragile and it's ready to come down.  It's time to develop a slate of left of center candidates that will reconnect with our alienated base and provide Oklahomans with a real choice.

But we'll probably have to endure a few more bare bottom spankings before we wise up.