Reply #4: I am a member of the DLC, and proud to be one.

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First off, if anything is a myth, it's this "corporatist" tag. Randi Rhodes love to use this buzzword to label moderates and independents who do not curry the liberal line all the time. Secondly, I am a moderate independent simply because the two party system does not talk for me, or about me and my needs or expectations. I do not follow party, I follow the person.

Progressives love to label the DLC as "Republican lite" when it is anything but. The first word of the DLC is Democratic. That alone should tell you something. The DLC have allowed themselves to be labeled by others simply because they do not fight back. I am a member of the DLC and proud to be so. We don't twist in the wind, or stick our finger out to see which way the political winds are blowing, or change our positions every 15 minutes. That's another myth that has no basis in fact.

Independents make up the largest percentage of this country. They ascribe to no political party. That is not an illusion, that is fact. Neither the Democrats nor Republicans talk for me. My opinions are closer to the Democrats, but I still keep my independent streak. I am proud to follow in the footsteps of Clinton, Bayh, Carper, Lee Hamilton, the late John Kennedy. These are people I have the utmost respect for.