(Just have to get this off my chest.)

Sometimes we get so hung up on labels that it gets silly.

We also get caught up in various buzzwords, like "pragmatic" and "electable" and whether a particilar position is "too far left" or "too spineless."

Personally, I find myself arguing like a centrist sometimes and arguing like a progressive lefty at others. In some instances I feel like a voice of moderation. At other times I feel like a radical rabble rouser.

Anyone else experience this paradox here?

It's a lot easier-- and probably more satisfying -- to take a stance that is all-purpose. Like "I'll support any Democrat, even if he is a cross between Simon Legree and Attilla the Hun." Or the opposite position of "All Democrats are spinless weasels."

It also doesn't really advance us to dismiss specific positions, just because it might be "too liberal" or "too much like GOP lite."

IMO we would go a lot farther if we'd all shake up our preconceptions sometimes and actually discuss the substance and specifics of divisive issues, and hash them out with the goal of actually identifying where we might agree and disagree -- and how we can find enough common ground to have a more united front against the GOP CONservative Machine.