The Dumbest Fucking People Alive

This is The Atlantic, not the NYT, but the share a lot of the same pathologies (and both have good things!). 

Anyone who knows anything about US politics knows that most "independents" aren't. They're fairly reliable party voters who don't like to identify as such because, in part, of decades of rhetoric telling them that being 'partisan' is somehow bad and that only 'independents' are the true Great Thinkers who are unmarred by ideology or blind allegiance.

More than that, dumb pundits always want to slot 'independents' into the position of "Washington Consensus Centrist Moderate" which is, hilariously, the absolutely most dominant ideology of our press and electeds (fading a bit, but certainly was).  It has  completely dominated for decade, yet these people pretend it represents a constituency without representation when in fact it's an ideology without a constituency outside of DC.

True 'independents' are either Too Right or Too Left (quite often the latter, though such people do not exist to pundits, or should not, and do not merit consideration), or have a hodgepodge of beliefs that do not match up with the parties but are not in anyway "centrism" as defined.

Also:

relevant https://t.co/DFSsmyeewk

— Ricardo Gutiérrez (@icaito) February 16, 2023

Sinema is the DC dream of the "centrist" - basically a corrupt devotee of the status quo and the continued money spigot for all the right people, including think tankers and magazine writers who receive Koch money - who is socially 'progressive' in mostly performative ways that seem nice but don't require anything of anybody.

(via)