I suppose any of us makes an ass of themselves by losing their temper and calling names, and that certainly applies to me. So in the interest of fairness and civility, let me retract any of the names I called you. Part of my short trigger has to do with what seems to be the preferred rhetorical approach of the conservative movement, which has come to rely too much (in my opinion) on demonizing and ridiculing people with different political views, cultural backgrounds or lifestyles. There's a fundamental lack of respect that is actually celebrated and admired among conservatives, and it's the primary thing pushing the envelope on incivility in our political culture.

This "Democrat Party" corruption is an intentional misuse of the party's real name, which is done to try to subtly mock and belittle the party and those who belong to it. It's a bit like saying the "RepuGnican Party," but what makes it especially galling is that it's not just being used by random posters on boards like this one, but has been institutionalized within the fabric of conservatism to show how little they respect their political opponents. It goes along with saying that people who oppose the Iraq war are traitors, and how Al Qaeda wants Barack Obama to win the presidency. When people try to be mature and ignore these kind of taunts, they invariably end up being shoved down the nation's throat and do real damage. "Liberal" is now "the L word," which is really sad, because it means that a perfectly honorable and respectable political philosophy has been trashed by thugs who apparently think there's something wrong with social justice.

But in any case, you haven't established yourself in this discussion as being in any way morally exemplary either. In the interest of a little healthy self-criticism, you might examine some of the language you've used and ask why you would use it as a random insult to people you don't know anything about, when it doesn't apply to them and they don't care in any case. It's pretty silly, to say the least.

There, I wrote a few paragraphs and didn't call you a punk once. Ya happy now?