""but I've seen people who - just by your mere presence - will troll rate you. And with diaries that vanished and comments that reflect those ratings, you might want to be careful what you say.""

If I were more selective about what I said so as not to rile people up (Which I think was what you meant), my purpose for being here would dwindle.

Not because I come here to get a rise out of people.  In fact, just the opposite.

I come here because I believe the Democratic party's future is a liberal, progressive vision.

And in my eyes, there's no better representatives of that liberal, progressive vision than Tom Friedman, Bill Maher, Scoop Jackson, and yes, sometimes, Joe Lieberman.

I recognize that many here disagree with that -- but frankly, I think that's because the modern American left has become illiberal and regressive in many ways.

And I think it's time for true liberals and progressives to stand up and save the movement from itself, to some degree.

Doing that involves a lot of butting heads.  Look at the front page right now.  Look at how they're calling Tom Friedman childish names, Tom Friedman of all people!  One of the leading lights of our movement, if ever there was one!  And look at how they denigrate him.

There's a lot of work to be done.

""Bottom line - it seems you've been labeled a troll by a few. It has the potential to follow you around, like in fact, it did here. ""

I accept that.  But steadying and focusing the direction of the Democratic party and the progressive movement is important enough to have some thick skin about.  Which is why I keep coming back here.

I made a big long post on one of the previous names, a diary, called "Let's talk about civility of discourse at DKos."  It received over 400 replies.

It was really good.  It's a shame it's lost to history now.