Are they any moderate Democrats left?

[smoltchanov]

Is this a joke thread? Centrists and neoliberals are, unfortunately, still very much alive and well in the Party. Just look at the DNC chair, for starters.

You would mean "fortunately", if you are clever...

[smoltchanov]

Much less then even 10 years ago, obviously. Almost nobody (Manchin, Peterson, Lipinski, and that's, eesentially, all) in Congress, JBE - among governors, some state legislators. But, because of collapse of the party in rural areas and among WWC - relatively few even there. Even "Blue Dogs" of present are a shadow of their counterparts 10 years ago (Bright, Griffith, Minnick, even Childers and Cazayoux). There are at most 10 Democrats in all state legislatures, whom i would call "moderate conservatives", and not a single one - as simply "conservative".

[smoltchanov]

Seriously seems like every Democrat (at least the ones I've seen are) have drifted far left on everything

There are lot of them, but, regretfully - less and less among Democratic officeholders.

[smoltchanov]

Theres no reason for Democrats to fake being moderate anymore since it doesnt help them get elected

Tell that to JBE or Jim Hood...

[smoltchanov]

Checking in.....

Also, New Democrats and Blue Dogs combined outnumber the Progressive Caucus.  The New Democrats alone number about a hundred in the House, their highest ever since their formation nearly a generation ago.  

Being apart of the New Democrat Caucus doesn't mean that they are "moderate" or "neoliberal". Some members of the New New Democrat Caucus are also members of the Progressive Caucus.

That simply shows that the Progressive Caucus isn't really progressive and nothing more. If they were truly progressive they would banish all New Democrats.

No, it simply shows that being a New Democrat in the 2010s doesn't mean what it did in the 1990s. Pretty much all New Democrats are center-left to just being left wing. The Blue Dog Caucus is where the actual moderates and "neoliberals" are (for the most part).

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on our definitions on who or who doesn't qualify as a 'moderate'.  To me, anyone who affiliates themselves with the New Democrat Coalition (and that includes center-leftists like my congressman Don Beyer) qualifies as moderate even if they also are members of the Progressive Caucus. 

For me - surely no. Don Beyer is pragmatic liberal, not a moderate. Sinema, Peterson, McAdams, JBE, Jim Hood are moderates.

[smoltchanov]

Of course there are. There may be less of them than ever but there are still way more Democratic moderates than Republican moderates, who are about as rare as a Bigfoot-Loch Ness Monster-Unicorn.

Agree. Republicans were much more stubborn in their idiotic desire to get rid of moderates (gosh, there were even liberals in party in the past....), then Democrats. But now Democrats are infected with the same decease, and demonstrate similar level of idiotism....

[smoltchanov]

Donna Shalala isn't just moderate, she's far right.

You mean far left......

[smoltchanov]

Even the most liberal Democrats seem reluctant to legalize marijuana.

What for? Life without drugs (even "light") is much preferrable, IMHO....