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“The Senate working toward a bi-partisan proposal for healthcare reform, democratic leaders in the house are now saying there will not be a vote though on the president’s health care reform before they hit their August break.  A group of fiscally conservative democrats who call themselves the blue dog coalition are one of the roadblocks in the way.” (CNN)

With a democratically controlled congress, passing healthcare reform should be easy, but a small faction of the 52 moderate and conservative congressional Democrats known as the Blue Dogs are holding up the proceedings until they get a plan they are happy with.  

Our research has uncovered some divergent perspectives on this intra-party dispute and a concern over these delay tactics.  In his Sunday column for the New York Times, economist Paul Krugman claims that not only are the Blue Dogs’ arguments incoherent, but the Blue Dogs are playing with fire.  

“They can’t extract major concessions on the shape of health care reform without dooming the whole project: knock away any of the four main pillars of reform, and the whole thing will collapse — and probably take the Obama presidency down with it.”

Although Reihan Salam, a blogger for the Daily Beast, also finds the Blue Dogs grating, he can’t help but be grateful for what their stance means for Republicans and conservatives.

“Had the Democrats stayed united, conservatives could have been effectively marginalized. But through their constant inside-the-tent sniping, they've made the GOP look like the voice of sweet reason.”

Appearing on CNBC, former New York Mayor Giuliani believes the Blue Dogs are right and doing what’s best for the country.  

“I think their big problem is they don’t believe he’s making the case to the American people because it just doesn’t make sense that it is going to be revenue neutral. He’s not gonna’ cut costs by the amount that he says he’s gonna’ cut. You don’t even need Elmendorf to tell you that.  I think anybody who looks at this will tell you that.”

On MSNBC’s the Ed Show, Ed Shultz disagrees, saying that all this stonewalling has more to do with filling the pockets of the seven blue dogs on the house energy commerce committee than the good of the people.

“The public campaign action fund found out that those seven guys have raked in an average of 712,000 dollar from the healthcare industries.  Now, that close to 100,000 dollars more than any other democrats on the committee, these guys are letting the health care industry just flat out buy them off.“   

FOX News also notes that the pause could be related to the upcoming election, emphasizing actual votes rather than campaign money.

“The moderate and conservative democrats stuck out there necks to pass the cap and trade energy bill which has now stalled in the senate so they are nervous about tackling health care reform with midterm elections coming up next year."

On MSNBC, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, thinks the posturing and delays have negative implications for more than just the Democratic Party or President Obama.   

"If we can’t pass universal healthcare, accessible affordable healthcare, I think it is a question about the function of our system. Is our system functional? Can our system work to improve the conditions of people’s lives.“

What do you think is the true motivation behind the Blue Dogs demands and what does it mean for the country?