Heath Shuler, who for a minute was a quarterback for the Washington Redskins and other teams, is guilty of misreading the call. He survived the brutal assault by the GOP big money machine against the so-called Blue Dog Democrats like himself, over half of his blue dog teammates didn't. If he is for the working man, like he says he is, and I believe he is, then he shouldn't be wasting his energy bad mouthing Democrats, and progressives, and the still Speaker until January, Nancy Pelosi, he should be railing against the take over of the House by the minions of the corporate elite. Instead, he's ranting against Ms. Pelosi. He is barking in the wrong direction. Mr. Shuler should turn around and take a clear headed look at who really is hosing whom.

Okay, so he was nearly sacked by the GOP machine. He may be a little disorientated. He may be shaken up. He may even felt as if he's been knocked down. He is talking like he's suffering from a concussion. He has offered himself as an alternative to Ms. Pelosi's leadership and shouts a threat to challenge her.

The Huffington Post reports -- Mr Shuler as saying, "If there's not a viable alternative [to Pelosi] -- like I said all along -- I can go recruit moderate Members to run in swing districts," Shuler said on Thursday. "In that situation, I could do it better than she could, and that's what it's going to take. It's going to take moderate candidates to win back those seats." Shuler had first made the claim last month during a debate with his opponent, Jeff Miller"

First of all Mr Shuler has zero chance of being elected minority leader. A lot of his squad was wiped out. The Democratic caucus is smaller but more progressive. 96% of the progressives won reelection, only 47% of the blue dogs. Why was that? Not because they dissed Ms Pelosi.

Okay, in swing districts, moderate politics count for something. But the moderates need to be better communicators to their voters, constantly, everyday, educating them, keeping them informed, as to why they should vote Democratic, explaining, that there is a difference between those who serve the working and Middle class, and those who serve only the interest of the corporate elite, and that difference has an effect on their daily lives.

The Blue Dogs who lost didn't, for the most part, make this message clear. They weren't able to overcome the GOP falsehoods, lies and distortion. The GOP ran this race against a mosque in New York City, for goodness sakes, against Latino immigration, and gall of all gall, blaming the Democrats for the Great Recession! And what did many of the blue dogs do? They spent more time barking at their fellow Democrats than they did educating their voters to beware of the GOP's tricks, of the GOP's use of smoke and funny mirrors.