Republicans attack the Blue Dogs for being Obama’s, Pelosi’s lapdogs

National Republicans are launching a new campaign on Wednesday that targets House Democrats, starting with a handful of members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is billing the effort the “Democrat Accountability Offensive.” The first phase is the launch of radio ads in five members’ districts.

The ads, obtained by The Hill, seek to tie Democratic Reps. John Tanner (Tenn.), Charlie Melancon (La.), Zack Space (Ohio), Marion Berry (Ark.) and Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) to President Obama’s and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) spending policies. Over a background of dogs howling, the narrator in the ads calls the members “lapdogs” instead of “Blue Dogs.”

{mosads} “This year in Washington, Marion Berry’s not voting like a Blue Dog. He’s voting like a lapdog,” the ad’s announcer says. “A lapdog for Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. Berry’s been voting with liberal Pelosi 90 percent of the time. When Pelosi wanted $787 billion in new spending.”

 The campaign reflects the latest Republican tactic: to go back on the offensive in the hope of regaining seats in the House next year after losing 54 seats in the last two election cycles. The ads also target five of the GOP’s top targets in the House next year. In 2008, Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) carried each of these five districts by significant margins.

 Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the NRCC, said these Blue Dog Democrats have failed to be a check on the liberal wing of their party’s spending policies.

 “This was the same group that was supposed to hold liberal Democrats accountable on out-of-control spending,” Lindsay said, “yet that hasn’t stopped a majority of their members from giving a blank check to Nancy Pelosi’s one-party rule in Washington.”

 {mospagebreak}{mosads}The NRCC declined to provide specific information about the size of the ad buy. It called the buy “significant” and said that these ads will run for a week. The NRCC plans to target other Democrats in the coming weeks by highlighting specific spending requests.

 The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) dismissed the advertisements and the idea of an “offensive” campaign against Democrats. “What is offensive is that Republicans took America from record surpluses to record deficits and just aren’t used to seeing members who are independent and stand up for what they think is right,” said Jennifer Crider, the DCCC’s communications director.

Democrats, including these five, Crider said, are working to clean up the economy after the mess left by Republicans.

 “The Blue Dog Coalition, the president, the Speaker and the entire Democratic Caucus have made strides in making the bipartisan pay-as-you-go rule the law of the land and are working to get the economy back on track,” she said. “Republicans would be better serviced by helping with those efforts instead of just saying no.”