“When the so-called fiscally conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats folded on the health care reform bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi skated to victory and even declared, “That was easy.” No wonder. A new analysis of the three big House votes impacting the budget and deficit this year finds the Blue Dogs are all bark and no bite,” writes Stephen Moore.

The calculations were done by Heritage Foundation congressional analyst Mike Franc. On three votes that would massively expand the size of government — the stimulus plan, cap and trade, and health care reform — Blue Dogs mostly were AWOL. “Of the 52 House Blue Dogs, only four voted against all three,” says Mr. Franc. Sixteen voted for two of the three, and 17 voted for all three.

“If all three of these provisions become law,” says Mr. Franc, “Obama would realize his goal of ‘remaking’ America. And the Blue Dogs will have done nothing to stand in the way of the largest rise in the national debt in history.”

The next big vote comes later this week on the Medicare physician reimbursement bill, aka the “doctors fix” — a $200 billion ten-year increase in the deficit with no offsetting savings. Will the Blue Dogs finally find religion on the deficit? Don’t hold your breath. “We can almost never count on the Blue Dogs on crucial votes,” says Republican Mike Pence of Indiana.

Now for the roll of honor and dishonor: The lap dogs of big government who voted for all three of the Obama bills were Leonard Boswell of Iowa, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Baron Hill of Indiana, Dennis Moore of Kansas, Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania and Zack Space of Ohio. Of special note is Tennessee’s Mr. Cooper, who once owned a reputation for seriousness on health care and the entitlement morass.

As for the rare breed who earned their Blue Dog reputation by voting down the mega bills, they were Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith of Alabama, Walt Minnick of Idaho and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.

No bark, no bite, lap dogs, indeed!