Democrats in the Middle... and Getting No Credit

Great point here from the Plum Line at the Washington Post.

Calling for a third party is a quick and easy way to get yourself booked for a round of cable TV appearances. But many of those calling for a third party are refusing to reckon with an inconvenient fact: One of the two parties already occupies the approximate ideological space that these commentators themselves are describing as the dream middle ground that allegedly can only be staked out by a third party.
That party is known as the “Democratic Party,” and it alreadly holds many of the positions these commentators want a third party to espouse.

I couldn't say it better myself.  Click through to the post- lots of good examples abound.

As a liberal myself, I don't particularly like that the Democrats have become the party of the center.  I want to see a dynamic in which Democrats start at the position that tax hikes should be the primary way to handle the deficit, for example.  Then we can compromise and end up at... the current Democratic position.  Starting there just guarantees that we'll end up closer the far-right position.

Right now we have the GOP for the far Right, the Democrats for the Center, and..... nobody in the polity representing the Left.