To Purge or Not to Purge or What it Means to Have a Big Tent

  Just in the midst of some good ol' fashioned Democratic chest thumpig, here we have reminders of congresses past. Digby at Hullabaloo reminds us that Blue Dog democrats still live and breathe. Senators from states that Mitt Romney carried have their doubts deficit fighting strategies such as raising revenue and cutting loopholes/subsidies to energy companies. Sens. Landrieu (LA), Hagan (NC) and Baucus (MT) want to make sure that their state's interests are protected (along with their asses in the 2014 campaigns). In short, despite the "mandate" given to the party on taxing the rich and the weakness of the Republicans on this issue, the "financial cliff" battle will be the same absurdist drama as every other attempt to govern at the federal level. Sigh.