What Is A Moderate?

In recent days I have heard many commentators, on virtually every type of media (including those typing on virtual media), claim they don't understand how anyone could be a "moderate." They state they don't even know what a moderate is. I was moved to create this site because I have yet to hear an adequate response to their derogatory characterizations of moderates.
These commentators have made careers largely by appealing to those who tend toward the visible ends of the political spectrum, those who are most willing to put their time and effort and voices behind what they believe, because they believe it rabidly, because they are either ultra-left or infra-right, they are blinded to the truth.
There used to be a concept enforced in American court rooms, the Reasonable Man Clause.
There used to be a concept in American politics, an understanding that at the end of the debate, all on both sides of the aisle are fighting for what they truly believe is going to further the good of the American people.
There are those in America, those whom Dr. Martin Luther King called the "Uncommitted Majority," who have in latter days been called the "Rockefeller Republicans," "Reagan Democrats," and "Soccer Moms," who have been the decisive factor in every national election in the past 35 years, and will be the decicisve factor in every election in the foreseeable future.
We "Moderates" in California just succeeded in ousting a Governor who was not responsive to the will of the people, in what I believe will come to be known as one of the most significant political revolutions in American History; and we elected a man who ran as a Republican, while espousing many beliefs anathema to that party. And yet, in the 2004 elections in California, not one office of 153 changed political party.
Watching Barbara Boxer attempt to embarass Dr. Condoleeza Rice, I was embarrassed for America; because this is what the state of our politics has become. After citing the recent Dr. King Holiday, someone who proudly claims to be Liberal, assails the character and integrity of someone she will have to work with for at least the next four years, someone on the verge of assuming the most powerful political position ever held by an African-American woman. Why?
It SEEMS she did it only because she disagrees with her politically. She admits Dr. Rice is qualified for the post. But then she states that Dr. Rice "lost her respect for the truth." Had she only prefaced her remark with the phrase, It SEEMS, Dr. Rice would have been given an opportunity to explain. Had she allowed Dr. Rice that opportunity, and remained open to the possibility that perhaps there is a valid explanation, those people who share Senator Boxer's viewpoint might have gotten a fuller accounting of the truth. Instead now we are treated to the fallout of the attack, speculation of Sen. Boxer's political positioning, discussion of the state of American politics, a cascade of vitriol that could have easily been avoided.
We Moderates believe that the only way out of this current political climate is for those on both sides to put the good of the country (meaning all the people of the country) over the good of their own party, or their own career. If Democrats will stop claiming that Republicans want to kill children and leave old people to starve on the streets, and if Republicans will stop claiming that the Democratic Party wants Communism in America, if both will approach each situation honestly looking for a win-win solution, there is hope for this Nation.
If we Moderates continue to allow fanatics on the edges of the spectrum to dominate our parties (including virtually every Independent party) we will continue along the destructive path we are on. It is time for the Uncommited Majority to stop applauding the losses of one side or the other, and only support those who would advance the good of America.