Jane Hamsher: Center of What?

There has been some rather heated discussion of late about that great political unicorn, the so-called "centrist," which is typically provoked by statements like this from Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly:

I hope the liberal blogosphere doesn't get into the habit of automatically trashing centrist positions simply out of pique against some of centrism's more annoying practitioners.

After all, trying to govern solely via populist intuition won't work any better than relying on a bunch of blue ribbon commissions.

I like Kevin Drum, and if I called up Central Casting and said "send down a Centrist" he'd be the guy they'd dispatch. Reasonable, dad-like, a thoughtful guy who speaks in measured tones and would not look at all ill-suited riding a lawn mower. But these are largely aesthetic considerations, and by-in-large I think it is on this basis that the moniker "centrist" is handed out. And those who considers themselves thoughtful and reasonable assume that they are in the "center" of all things and that other thoughtful, reasonable people should agree with them and are likewise going to be "centrists."