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	<title>Rise of the Center</title>
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	<link>http://riseofthecenter.com</link>
	<description>Spearheading the Rising Centrist Independent &#38; Moderate Groundswell</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 22:08:54 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>John Avlon wins 2nd Award in a Row from National Society of Newspaper Columnists</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/john-avlon-wins-2nd-award-in-a-row-from-national-society-of-newspaper-columnists/10566</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/john-avlon-wins-2nd-award-in-a-row-from-national-society-of-newspaper-columnists/10566#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 22:08:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>solomon-kleinsmith</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10566</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No shocker to anyone that follows this site much, but I&#8217;m a big fan of John Avlon&#8217;s work. I think I first came across his writing all the way back in 2005 or 2006, when he did some writing for the Radical Middle website, run by Mark Satin, the guy who wrote the must read (for centrists and moderates) book of the same name as his blog. Back then his was the site solid info on centrist / moderate politics. It was also around that time that I read Avlon&#8217;s first book, &#8216;Independent Nation: How Centrism Can Change American Politics&#8217;. I really started following John Avlon&#8217;s work later on though, when he started writing for...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/john-avlon-wins-2nd-award-in-a-row-from-national-society-of-newspaper-columnists/10566/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Political False Equivalence Excuses and the Analogy of the Embezzler and the Thief</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/political-false-equivalence-excuses-and-the-analogy-of-the-embezzler-and-the-thief/10562</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/political-false-equivalence-excuses-and-the-analogy-of-the-embezzler-and-the-thief/10562#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 21:01:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Summers</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10562</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a lot of hypocrisy in politics today.  This has caused a lot of finger pointing.  One irony is that hypocrisy is so engrained in both parties that, when one party points a finger at the second over some scandal, the second party can usually count on being able to dig up something similar that the first has done. These days, the standard political response to this is to claim &#8220;False Equivalence&#8221;.  This tactic uses the fact that, in politics, things are never exactly the same way twice.  Thus it becomes a lot like the analogy of the embezzler and the thief&#8230; Image a small town that is divides between the &#8220;Oranges&#8221; and the...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/political-false-equivalence-excuses-and-the-analogy-of-the-embezzler-and-the-thief/10562/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Plenty of Valid Angles of Attack Against Romney but Bain Capital Isn&#8217;t One of Them</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/plenty-of-valid-angles-of-attack-against-romney-but-bain-capital-isnt-one-of-them/10558</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/plenty-of-valid-angles-of-attack-against-romney-but-bain-capital-isnt-one-of-them/10558#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 17:05:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jack Lewis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[bain capital]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10558</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Democrats have begun a campaign aimed at painting Mitt Romney as a heartless capitalist who seeks money at the expense of ordinary people.  While the description is catchy, it is totally misleading.  In fact the words “heartless capitalist” are an oxymoron. Bain Capital, which Romney ran at one time, is (and was) a successful venture capital company.  Bain collected money from investors and in turn used the money to gain control of companies who were in trouble.  Bain ran these companies until such time as they could find other buyers or if unsuccessful, they just shut them down.  In the process, Bain made a lot of money. Before agreeing that Bain was heartless, one...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/plenty-of-valid-angles-of-attack-against-romney-but-bain-capital-isnt-one-of-them/10558/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Gang of Six Adds two New Members and Keeps Quietly Working Toward Fiscally Sane Budget Compromise</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/video-gang-of-six-adds-two-new-members-and-keeps-quietly-working-toward-fiscally-sane-budget-compromise/10553</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/video-gang-of-six-adds-two-new-members-and-keeps-quietly-working-toward-fiscally-sane-budget-compromise/10553#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 16:15:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>solomon-kleinsmith</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[fiscal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gang of six]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mark warner]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10553</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Check out this great segment from CBS News, talking about how the Gang of Six is now more accurately called the Gang of Eight, and continues their work behind the scenes to dig up enough support to pass fiscally sane budget legislation. The quiet buzz about their continuing work is that the target is pushing what they&#8217;ve produced during the lame duck session after this year&#8217;s election. The thinking is that they will be able to push more through right after the election, since it is the farthest from the intense partisan pressure that comes along when an election is near, especially a presidential one. The outgoing representatives and senators (and potentially a president), the...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/17/video-gang-of-six-adds-two-new-members-and-keeps-quietly-working-toward-fiscally-sane-budget-compromise/10553/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Open Letter to Kahlil Byrd and Americans Elect on Saving Americans Elect from Its Own Mistakes</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/16/open-letter-to-kahlil-byrd-and-americans-elect-on-saving-americans-elect-from-its-own-mistakes/10547</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/16/open-letter-to-kahlil-byrd-and-americans-elect-on-saving-americans-elect-from-its-own-mistakes/10547#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 May 2012 13:10:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Solomon Kleinsmith</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[americans elect]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[UPDATE: I&#8217;ve had some people ask if they could re-post this elsewhere &#8211; if anyone wants to post this somewhere, please do &#8211; as long as you post it in it&#8217;s entirety and with a link back. The more people read this the better. Thanks, - SK I&#8217;ve been following Americans Elect closely since it was called Unity &#8217;08, back in 2007 or so, and could hardly be a bigger supporter of it&#8217;s core mission. I&#8217;ve helped, been a delegate leader, was active with Unity &#8217;08 and I do believe that the core idea is one that is something the American people want. But even the best ideas will fail if executed poorly, and that...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/16/open-letter-to-kahlil-byrd-and-americans-elect-on-saving-americans-elect-from-its-own-mistakes/10547/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>30</slash:comments>
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		<title>Illogical Cuts to IRS Funding Will Lead to Trillions in Lost Revenue by Tax Dodgers and More Debt</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/illogical-cuts-to-irs-funding-will-lead-to-trillion-in-lost-revenue-by-tax-dodgers-and-more-debt/10541</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/illogical-cuts-to-irs-funding-will-lead-to-trillion-in-lost-revenue-by-tax-dodgers-and-more-debt/10541#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 18:38:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert A. Levine</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10541</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With federal budget deficits and the national debt as major problems for the country going forward, why have Republicans been unwilling to fund more I.R.S. agents to pursue tax cheats and increase federal revenue? The 2012 Obama budget asked for an increase in funding for the agency, much of which would have been dedicated to hiring more agents and enforcement initiatives. However, Congress in its infinite wisdom instead cut the I.R.S. budget, forcing the agency to offer buyouts to over 5000 of its employees. A report by the internal monitor of the I.R.S. in January noted that the cuts in funding and an increased workload made the agency unable to adequately collect taxes or provide reasonable...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/illogical-cuts-to-irs-funding-will-lead-to-trillion-in-lost-revenue-by-tax-dodgers-and-more-debt/10541/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<title>John Edwards Deserves to be Publicly Humiliated but this Trial is a Waste of Time and Our Tax Money</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/john-edwards-deserves-to-be-publicly-humiliated-but-this-trial-is-a-waste-of-time-and-our-tax-money/10537</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/john-edwards-deserves-to-be-publicly-humiliated-but-this-trial-is-a-waste-of-time-and-our-tax-money/10537#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 17:52:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jack Lewis</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10537</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[John Edwards’ campaign finance trial is difficult to understand.  It is not difficult, however, to recognize what a cad and hypocrite Edwards was.  It is simply difficult to understand what laws were violated.  Why John Edwards and not John Ensign? Edwards gushed about helping the poor and fighting big money interests.  He postured himself as honest and god fearing.  The average person’s man.  He was destined to be the answer to the machine candidates. Edwards had two big problems.  His wife was smart (maybe even smarter than him) and she had breast cancer.  As a populist candidate, Elizabeth was in the news almost as much as John.  People tended to like her and were very...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/15/john-edwards-deserves-to-be-publicly-humiliated-but-this-trial-is-a-waste-of-time-and-our-tax-money/10537/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Six Months Out from the Election and American People Continue to Leave Two Major Parties in Droves</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/six-months-out-from-the-election-and-american-people-continue-to-leave-two-major-parties-in-droves/10531</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/six-months-out-from-the-election-and-american-people-continue-to-leave-two-major-parties-in-droves/10531#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 15:58:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>solomon-kleinsmith</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Home Page]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[independents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[polling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[third way]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10531</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Continued displeasure with how the two major parties ignore what the American people want them to be doing has led to even more losses for them in registrations. The two big numbers are that independents now outnumber both parties in presidential battleground states and independent registration nationally keeps breaking records. We&#8217;re now at 40% nationally &#8211; a first. The interesting thing about this is that the declines are continuing in the middle of the campaign. This is where you&#8217;d expect the party machines to start boosting their registration numbers. It&#8217;s been particularly bad for the democrats, who&#8217;ve lost over 800,000 just in the 8 battleground states, while republicans have lost about 150,000, and independents have...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/six-months-out-from-the-election-and-american-people-continue-to-leave-two-major-parties-in-droves/10531/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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		<title>We Need to Find a Way to Get Youth the Options an Education Gives Them Without the Huge Debt</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/we-need-to-find-a-way-to-get-youth-the-options-an-education-gives-them-without-the-huge-debt/10524</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/we-need-to-find-a-way-to-get-youth-the-options-an-education-gives-them-without-the-huge-debt/10524#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 13:32:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Larry Bradley</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10524</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Financing college educations has been in the news lately because of two factors. One is the proposal to double the interest rate paid on student or Stafford Loans. The other is student loan debt in America is now over $1 Trillion, more than the amount owed for credit cards. Holy debit card, Batman, that’s a lot of money. Couple those factors with upcoming spring graduation ceremonies on campuses across the country and this thought comes to mind. Is owing that much money worth having a college education? If the question is re-framed to, “Is having a college education likely to mean more earning power than a high school education?” then the answer is clearly yes....]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/we-need-to-find-a-way-to-get-youth-the-options-an-education-gives-them-without-the-huge-debt/10524/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>How Successful Will Obama be at Pinning Romney to the Far Right Wing of the Republican Base?</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/how-successful-will-obama-be-at-pinning-romney-to-the-far-right-wing-of-the-republican-base/10521</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/how-successful-will-obama-be-at-pinning-romney-to-the-far-right-wing-of-the-republican-base/10521#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 11:24:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Richard Wagner</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10521</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The religious right still has a stranglehold on the Republican Party, despite their diminishing popularity over the last decade.  Richard Grenell, an openly gay campaign-aid to Mitt Romney, resigned due to pressure from the right regarding his sexual orientation.  To Romney’s credit, he did not ask Grenell to resign, and according to Grenell, Romney had told him that his sexual orientation was a “non-issue”. Despite Romney’s gravitation towards the right on issues like abortion, he seems to have under-estimated the power of these moralists within the GOP. More Republicans these days are becoming outspoken opponents of the religious right, in the tradition of Barry Goldwater.  Goldwater saw such men as Jerry Falwell for what they truly were &#8211;...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/14/how-successful-will-obama-be-at-pinning-romney-to-the-far-right-wing-of-the-republican-base/10521/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Disgusting Fright Wing Anti-Abortion Activists Darken the Day at Philadelphia&#8217;s Race for the Cure</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/disgusting-fright-wing-anti-abortion-activists-darken-the-day-at-philadelphias-race-for-the-cure/10515</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/disgusting-fright-wing-anti-abortion-activists-darken-the-day-at-philadelphias-race-for-the-cure/10515#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 May 2012 18:51:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jack Lewis</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10515</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today in Philadelphia about 35,000 gathered for the annual Susan B Komen “race for the cure”.  It was a beautiful day and all sorts of people attended.  The trend has been towards groups with families, friends, and colleagues joining together with matching T-shirts.  Not so many Tutus or spidermen this year.  Just plain people. There were all the usual mix of races and ethnicities.  And overwhelmingly, lots of women.  For sure more than 60% were females of all ages.  On every face seemed the determination to speak for the right of women to be healthy. Well not on every face. Near the start of the race course, strategically positioned on an early corner just beyond...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/disgusting-fright-wing-anti-abortion-activists-darken-the-day-at-philadelphias-race-for-the-cure/10515/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Partisan Victimhood Aside, Left Has Won on Social Issues and Right on Economic Issues over Last Generation</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/partisan-victimhood-aside-left-has-won-on-social-issues-and-right-on-economic-issues-over-last-generation/10509</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/partisan-victimhood-aside-left-has-won-on-social-issues-and-right-on-economic-issues-over-last-generation/10509#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 May 2012 18:39:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>solomon-kleinsmith</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[partisan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10509</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the most accurate barometers of how deeply partisan someone I&#8217;m talking to is, is fishing to see how much they&#8217;ll take on the victim role when you talk about how our country has evolved politically over the last few decades. I&#8217;m not sure exactly why this is, although I suspect it has a lot to do with an unwillingness to accept polling data that doesn&#8217;t fit their worldview (as well as a whole slew of other things that don&#8217;t fit their partisan blinders), but most of the hard core partisans I&#8217;ve had the pleasure of getting a good grasp of their perspective on this think that the nation has fundamentally been hijacked by...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/13/partisan-victimhood-aside-left-has-won-on-social-issues-and-right-on-economic-issues-over-last-generation/10509/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
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		<title>Obama&#8217;s Change of Heart and the Inevitability of Legalized Gay Marriage</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/obamas-change-of-heart-and-the-inevitability-of-legalized-gay-marriage/10506</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/obamas-change-of-heart-and-the-inevitability-of-legalized-gay-marriage/10506#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 May 2012 00:24:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Gruntled Center</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[gay marriage]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10506</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President Obama completed what he described as the evolution of his position on same-sex marriage.  He has long supported civil rights for homosexuals.  In the 2008 election he supported civil unions as the state equivalent of marriage, reserving the term &#8220;marriage&#8221; for religious unions. This has been my position, too. However, I also see that it is hard for most people to hold on to a living sense of the difference between the law of the state and the order of the church.  Ironically, it is Southern Baptists who seem to have the hardest time with this distinction &#8211; even though when they were a sect being persecuted by the state church, Baptists pioneered the church/state...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/obamas-change-of-heart-and-the-inevitability-of-legalized-gay-marriage/10506/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
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		<title>Demagogue of the Day &#8211; Joe Wisenthal for Actually Saying that the Economy Will IMPLODE if Romney Doesn&#8217;t Win</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/demagogue-of-the-day-joe-wisenthal-for-actually-saying-that-the-economy-will-implode-if-romney-doesnt-win/10501</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/demagogue-of-the-day-joe-wisenthal-for-actually-saying-that-the-economy-will-implode-if-romney-doesnt-win/10501#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 12 May 2012 23:50:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Solomon Kleinsmith</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[business insider]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[demagogue of the day]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10501</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is hyperbole&#8230; and then there is this. The Business Insider is one of the websites I check semi-regularly to get the pulse of right leaning business focused news, and I was greeted, a few minutes ago, to this little nugget as the featured story on their front page: What this reminds me of off the top of my head are all the people who said they&#8217;d leave the country if Bush or Obama won, except it&#8217;s even more ridiculous. The one saving grace for Weisenthal is that he may not have written the headline. On my column on over at WNYC.org, my editor usually writes the headlines, although I occasionally ask for changes if...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/12/demagogue-of-the-day-joe-wisenthal-for-actually-saying-that-the-economy-will-implode-if-romney-doesnt-win/10501/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Scarecrow on the Fence: Obama&#8217;s Pivot is a Teachable Moment for Centrists</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/10/the-scarecrow-on-the-fence-obamas-pivot-is-a-teachable-moment-for-centrists/10488</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/10/the-scarecrow-on-the-fence-obamas-pivot-is-a-teachable-moment-for-centrists/10488#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 20:13:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Cranky Critter</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10488</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Barack Obama has officially evolved his position on gay marriage. For centrists, this is a teachable moment. Is such &#8220;evolution&#8221; just another way to say flip-flop? Is a politician who straddles failing to lead? My mileage varies from the usual spin on such matters. On contentious wedge issues, politicians often try to straddle the fence. Or, since actually straddling can be tricky, the straddling comes in the form of the official position for public consumption, That position is the scarecrow on the fence. Politicians often adopt official positions that send a neutral signal while quietly signaling where their sympathies lie. The quiet signals indicate how the person leans. The vague public pronouncements are the scarecrow...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/10/the-scarecrow-on-the-fence-obamas-pivot-is-a-teachable-moment-for-centrists/10488/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>37</slash:comments>
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		<title>Lamenting Lugar&#8217;s Loss is Lame; Learn Instead</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/09/10476/10476</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/09/10476/10476#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2012 14:32:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Cranky Critter</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10476</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The conventional centrist response to someone like Dick Lugar losing his seat? Something like this: It&#8217;s a shame to see someone with a reputation for bipartisanship get ousted. We need more people with the ability to work across the aisle in good faith. Yadda, yadda, yadda. My response is to ask why Lugar lost. I wonder how many more congressional seats the Tea Party will win before their opponents stop treating them in a condescending and derisively dismissive manner. Opponents of the Tea Party would do well to stop treating them like a misunderstood case of poison ivy: an itchy nuisance of no real concern that will clear up if left alone. Instead they should...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/09/10476/10476/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>20</slash:comments>
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		<title>No Labels Update on Making Congress Do Their Job and Pass a Budget</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/no-labels-update-on-making-congress-do-their-job-and-pass-a-budget/10459</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/no-labels-update-on-making-congress-do-their-job-and-pass-a-budget/10459#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 20:52:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>solomon-kleinsmith</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[make congress work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[no budget no pay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[no labels]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10459</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The following is an email update from No Labels, on their great work pushing for the &#8216;No Budget, No Pay Act&#8217;, where Congress wouldn&#8217;t be paid unless they pass budgets on time. There has been quite a bit of very reasonable critiques of how No Labels could have done better with the level of attention it was getting during the first year or so they were around, but I think they&#8217;ve been learning from their mistakes and getting more focused on tangible things like this. Read through their email, and click on the link to their &#8216;Make Congress Work Toolkit&#8216; to see how you can spend just a few minutes and help them with the...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/no-labels-update-on-making-congress-do-their-job-and-pass-a-budget/10459/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sistah Souljah Moments: The Meme, The Myth, and the Dreary Truth</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/sistah-souljah-moments-the-meme-the-myth-and-the-dreary-truth/10448</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/sistah-souljah-moments-the-meme-the-myth-and-the-dreary-truth/10448#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 20:19:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Cranky Critter</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10448</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 1992, then-candidate Bill Clinton scored big political points for repudiating a minor black activist who went by the same of Sister Souljah. In the intervening 20 years, Sister Souljah has become immortalized. A Sistah Souljah Moment is a showy instance where a politician allegedly shows courage. This is done via a willingness to stand up one&#8217;s own own supporters when they speak or act in ugly, mean-spirited ways.[And notice my alternative spelling here. to signal some contempt for the marketing of faux courage.) In this era, the Sistah Souljah Moment meme is usually used as a clever vehicle for criticizing a politician for failing to speak in an untenable way, failing to take an...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/08/sistah-souljah-moments-the-meme-the-myth-and-the-dreary-truth/10448/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Two Major Parties Ignoring Public Disgust with Partisan Garbage, Pushing for More Extreme Ideological Warfare</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/two-major-parties-ignoring-public-disgust-with-partisan-garbage-pushing-for-more-extreme-ideological-warfare/10428</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/two-major-parties-ignoring-public-disgust-with-partisan-garbage-pushing-for-more-extreme-ideological-warfare/10428#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 May 2012 21:23:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert A. Levine</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10428</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With the vast majority of Americans disgusted with Washington and polls showing that Congressional approval ratings are in the toilet, can we anticipate that the discourse might improve in the future? Can we expect that politicians will take citizens’ displeasure to heart with positive steps to improve the atmosphere in Washington, so that the important business of the nation can be accomplished? Unfortunately, the answers are no, and it is more likely that the political climate will deteriorate further in the years ahead. A recent article in Politico by Charles Mahtesian and Jim VandeHei spelled out the reasons why the situation appears so bleak. Basically, its the loss of centrists and moderates on both sides...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/two-major-parties-ignoring-public-disgust-with-partisan-garbage-pushing-for-more-extreme-ideological-warfare/10428/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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		<title>Romney&#8217;s Pregnant Silence Over the Resignation of His Campaign&#8217;s Gay Policy Advisor</title>
		<link>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/romneys-pregnant-silence-over-the-resignation-of-his-campaigns-gay-policy-advisor/10424</link>
		<comments>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/romneys-pregnant-silence-over-the-resignation-of-his-campaigns-gay-policy-advisor/10424#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 May 2012 20:18:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jack Lewis</dc:creator>
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		<category><![CDATA[gay]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[romney]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://riseofthecenter.com/?p=10424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mitt Romney took a round house punch this week without ever swinging back.  His newly hired national security aide, Richard Grenell resigned after protests from staunchly conservative groups.  Mr Grenell is an openly gay man. Mr. Grenell had been hired to help form Romney’s policy on national security.  In this capacity it is difficult to understand any religious based ideological objection.  Apparently for some the notion of “family values” had been offended by this appointment. Those who object to Grenell are the same people who make their living firing up outrageous prejudices against others in the name of the bible. It should be clear today sexual orientation is a matter of nature and not nurture....]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://riseofthecenter.com/2012/05/03/romneys-pregnant-silence-over-the-resignation-of-his-campaigns-gay-policy-advisor/10424/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
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