Discussing why Rudi and Hillary are considered polarizing candidates, Kevin Drum hits the nail on the head:

But there’s a huge difference here. A guy like Giuliani is polarizing because he actively chooses to be. It’s part of his persona. He wants people to hate him

Hillary, by contrast, is polarizing not because she wants to be, but because the right-wing attack machine made her that way. She’s “polarizing” only because a certain deranged slice of conservative nutjobs detest her.

And guess what? By this standard, Jimmy Carter is polarizing. Bill Clinton is polarizing. Al Gore is polarizing. John Kerry is polarizing. Do you see the trend here?

That sounds beyond right, it sounds like an explanation for the entire past decade plus of politics since Clinton came into office. I can’t name a thing Clinton (Bill or Hillary) has done to be polarized. In fact, the most common objection by those on the Democratic side is that the Clintons triangulate too damn much. On those issues where I disagreed with Clinton, I almost always did because he compromised on good policy to get legislation passed. If that’s not the definition of pragmatic, centrist policy, I’m not sure what is.

Can anyone suggest anything either Clinton has done that’s “polarizing”?

By all measures, Hillary and the Democrats she has aligned around her, including the DLC folks, are exactly of this mold. Of course, the country has moved so far right in discourse that many Democrats, myself included, feel that compromise only moves us even further right. We need a leftward shift, a focus on sound policy that lifts all boats, no matter whether you’re rich or not.

I’ve made no secret that I am not a fan of either the Democrats or the Republicans. The current crop of Republicans are too far to the right socially and are far from the fiscal conservative of yesteryear. The Democrats have too many issues to count…most of them involve lacking a backbone.

The more I think about the erosions of our civil liberities and the abuses, the more I wish we had a viable 3rd party. Where as during the 2004 Presidential Election, I was happy to “throw my vote away” to make a point and support principle, now it seems like it is too late. The Republicans are treading on the Constitution and the Democrats are helping it along. There is no where to turn and too much risk in trying to look somewhere else.

There is just too much danger in risking letting a Republican win and in some cases an incumbent Democrat. Even the most left leaning Republican gives power to that side of the aisle. I’d like for the Libertarians to be a viable option, but is too late to really lend them significant support. The risk of having a Republican elected is just too great. Hopefully we can just pull through this, hoping that the courts start taking a hard line and that the Administration doesn’t go nuts. Maybe the next presidential election will produce a viable (read not Clinton) candidate for the Democrats (or not an insane Republican).

(Now, who knows what the Libertarians would do in office, but it would certainly involve protecting the Constitution and would be interesting to see what else would happen.)