Re: "Closet-leftie"

Well. There's so much here is tough to know where to start. It seems to me you've raised the following issues:

1. Is it "leftie" or "lefty?"

2. Why do I know "all" the lefty sites? (LJ is referring to Kos, DU, and Willis, to which I referred him after he said he didn't read very many blogs, being new to the blogosphere. I assumed he would just reject out of hand what he might read, at say The Corner or Hewitt, so I referred him to sites he might find more in line with his thinking. (His statement about not reading blogs came in response to my email to him and Scooter that we ought to put sites on our blogroll and start the process of reaping all the crazy blog money.))

3. Do you like punctuation as much as I do? (Not actually raised by LJ but a fair inquiry nonetheless.)

4. Scooter's point in the comments: What's wrong with "liberal?" The folks at Kos and DU are proud to use the term. You seem to think it's tainted.

5. Do I read the lefty sites just to see what they are saying or for some other reason?

6. Why are the Dims blue (re "true blue Democrat")? I've always thought they should be red and Rethugs blue. (I think the answer is that some network (MSM, grr) at some point in the not-too-distant past arbitrarily chose those colors for its map during coverage of a presidential election. Anyone? Bueller? (Might as well reference it since I had to look up the spelling.)

7. (Subtext of #5 and the big issue.) Has Michael, after being a lifelong, steadfast, and vocal liberal (sorry LJ, that's the term), caved into peer and/or profession(?) pressure and now claims insincerely that he is a conservative because that is now the mainstream, i.e., the "safe" thing to do/be?

OK. That's a lot of typing for me. LJ (or Scooter) if you read this before I get back to it, tell me where I've misinterpreted LJ.