"When did moderate become a political dirty word?" CNN

[Bluenorthwest]

23. No offense sendero, but one can not walk new paths with steps already tried. Only old beaten

trails are tried and true, but we already know where they end and that is not where we want to go. I think it is cute to use words like 'sure footed' and to praise one's own trepidation as a virtue, but cute is for kids. I am in agreement with Dr King who called gradualism a drug we can not afford.
To me 'Moderates' and 'Centrists' will always and for all time be known as the group that was very upset about marriage equality and whined endlessly that 'only Civil Unions are possible' and that 'we have to wait...until after the next election, or after all the old bigots die off, or until the RCC evolves'. Wait. Only civil unions. I can show you DUers who said 'Gay marriage is unthinkable to me' as they pushed 'moderate' Civil Unions. The 'Moderates' were still saying 'The President Can Not Support Marriage Equality Or He Will Lose the Election' while Obama was telling the press he supports marriage equality, which was shortly before he won the election. Their 'moderate' way was a failure, it was not in fact 'moderate' it was atavistic and conservative to the core. 'No rights for you' is what they said 'maybe a few, maybe later, but not all of them and not now, 'cause we need to be moderate'.
Shall we do a search and find some 'Moderates' on DU advocating permanent inequality for GLBT people? There are thousands of such posts. They claim to be 'sane' and 'sure footed'.
That's who and what Moderates will always be to me. The folks who say 'drink the drug of gradualism and refuse all progress unless it profits me personally'.
During the political fight of my lifetime, Moderates took the opposite position. They opposed us when we sought marriage equality. They called it 'poutrage' they said 'oh, you didn't get your pony' to people whose spouses were considered strangers to them under the law. You didn't get your pony? How the fuck is that moderate political speech? It is not. Perhaps indulging in hyperbolic characterizations of others has put a crimp in the image of the 'sane sure footed Moderate' and replaced it with an image of a huge mouth shouting 'Pony wanter, Poutragers!!' at a minority seeking equal rights. Moderates tried to prevent equal rights for my people. They called us names, like their Republican counterparts do. Right here on DU.