Hillary has spent most of her political career denying she's a liberal

[Armstead]

30. One reason I get so angry at the Democratic "centrists" is their muddying of the debate

They have put the larger debate on GOP terms.

In the contemporary understandings, Capital L Liberal or Progressive, IMO, reflect similar goals -- the real difference is degree and pace. A difference between moderate and more activist/impatient.

Capital C Conservative and Libertarian are the opposite versions.

Life, and most people, actually exist as shades of grey, as a mix of degree and some contrasting instincts.

But the larger political debate is basically between those two options L or C in terms of how we deal with the core questions of distribution of Wealth and Power.

That is what gave the Democratic Party its strength and led to progressive/liberal advances.

But when the "centrist" Democrats stopped fighting for the L side in that larger context, they basically stopped the real debate and political push-and-pull, and gave the GOP (C side) an artificial advantage for 35 years.

I hope that doesn't sound too convoluted, because it ultimately is straightforward at its core, IMO.