"We have the rest of our lives to be Democrats. Tonight let's be Centrists!!" -- Dawson

Pop quiz, hot shot: Is this man a Dem or Con? First impressions. What does he look like? With that flimsy, To Catch a Pedophile mustache and little league coach grin.

Does it matter?

No, it doesn't matter. Not really. He did in fact work with Joe Lieberman and John McCain on the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. In 2003 he sent a letter to W where he felt the Prez should commit to "maintaining substantial U.S. military forces in Iraq for as long as may be required to ensure a stable, representative regime is in place and functioning."

He writes policy papers for Blueprint magazine, the digest for the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). The one that has moved a bit center. The one that still supports the War in Iraq. The one that loves Barry or Hills either way, but was relieved when Edwards and his populist routine bit the dust. And now the man pictured above, Will Marshall, is one of the behind-the-scenes players in deciding the next Democratic hopeful. Makes sense since he's one of the founders of the New Democrat movement.

You see, back in 1988 during a national presidential debate CNN's impartial debate moderator extraordinaire, Bernard Shaw, asked one of those crazy, loony lefty pinko commy governors from Massachusetts if he'd still be opposed to the death penalty if a man raped and murdered his wife. The LeftyPinkoCommy stuttered and mumbled -- the way thoughtful people tend to do when foolishly giving reasoned answers to sound byte designed questions -- but in the process he was emasculated on national TV. And those liberals have been hiding ever since. In the wake of the presidential defeat to Herbert-Walker, embarrassed dems decided they'd had it up to here, they were mad as hell and they weren't going to be called liberals anymore. A group emerged. -- one of those mysterious policy research think tanks. Twenty years later the movement that this man helped start is the group that dictates policy of the (ahem) "Left".

It isn't liberalism that swing voters in middle America object to. It's the lack of a spine (lookin' at Al and John).

So the next time you think about those crazy radical DLC-approved "Liberals", Barry and Hills, in their inevitable march back to the center, remember Will Marshall and his shadowy hand inside who gets pushed forward and who gets held back.