"Centrists" & Their Truly Pathetic Attacks

I like Josh Marshall a lot, but some of the people he has posting on his new website really seem to be comfortable vomiting up the most hackneyed conventional wisdom without spending more than 5 seconds actually trying to offer something new or honest. Take this person named Rick Heller. He calls himself a "centrist" (I put it in quotes because the term has become a misnomer). Today, he says - without any evidence whatsoever - that "Liberals are those who are a little softer on national security and perhaps not as budget conscious as we'd like." This is the same kind of garbage that self-serving self-promoters like Peter Beinart spew, while claiming to speak for Democrats. And that's what it is - garbage.

These same "centrists" said they were "stronger" on national security because they supported going to war in Iraq. Well, guess what, that war likely made us MORE insecure. These same "centrists" who say liberals aren't "budget conscious" are some of the same people who support massive corporate tax cuts at a time of budget deficits. They are also some of the same people who refuse to discuss things like excessive military spending, which, by the way, makes our country more insecure because we are wasting money on old systems, instead of new ones for the new War on Terror.

Let me take a page from Mr. Heller and throw it right back in his face. I say many (but not all) politicians/operatives who call themselves "centrists" are actually just people who are a little softer on being willing to take any sort of courageous stand or principled position on anything, and perhaps not as conscious about the effects of their out-of-touch policies on ordinary Americans. Why? Because most of the high-profile "centrists" are insulated in Washington, D.C. where they never have to deal with the real-world consequences of their policy proposals.

You may think that characterization is a little over the top - but it's far more honest and defensible than these "centrists" continuing to vilify people who want politicians to actually reflect average Americans' concerns.