Centrism

D-Day gets very near the truth about the new centrism, as exemplified by Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger:

Now it's of course true that this "centrism" is broadly defined as implementing the wishes of Democrats and the overwhelming majority of Americans without the help of Republican votes at all, while still calling yourself a Republican, setting you apart from those dirty fucking hippie Democrats.

Arnie's centrism is purely a facade, forced upon him by political reality: He's a red politician running a blue state.

The whole "new centrism" gambit is simply a method of rescuing as much of the conservative agenda as is salvageable while Bush goes down in flames. Centrism means no universal health care, no liberal judges, no campaign finance reform, no attempts to block corporate socialism, no real measures against global warming -- but we will get the occasional nice word about gays, coupled with the grudging admission that Iraq was a mistake.