TTR:

I'm afraid you lost a little credibility talking about defensiveness and knees jerking when you yelled "bingo!" as a form of political debate. You also lost a little credibility on the issue of levelheaded analysis when you suggested that there was a "lynching" going on. (I'm still not sure what you were referring to there, by the way, but it certainly seemed over the top.)

It took you exactly 32 minutes from the time I last posted to note that my reactiveness was immediate. You were presumably talking about my 29 minute reaction time to you. Hardly seems a big difference to me. And it took you only 24 minutes to shout "Bingo" after my last statement to Frank. Online anything can seem to be an immediately reactive, knee jerk response. So as the proverb says, "Jerk not lest ye be jerked."

I also think it's unfortunate that, after I had apologized to you and you had apparently accepted my apology, you were obviously still harboring enough of a grudge that the minute I suggested in an exchange with someone else that I might have reacted to acrimony with acrimony, you felt the need to impugn my apologies with a gleeful "bingo!" Now that certainly seemed defensive!

However, I appreciate what you say (in the second paragraph of your post of 12:49, I mean), and I reciprocate the personal admiration...as far as I can without knowing who you are in real life, that is! (Do we know each other in real life? PM me if you want full disclosure.)

I never take the political discussions on Mudcat to be representative of people's personalities in real life. I know all too well that I can sound far more strident here than I would if you guys were in my living room, and I assume the same is true for many of us. So I'm pretty blunt here. I honestly don't mean to hurt feelings or step on toes. But I assume we're all adults and will handle it.

I also don't hold grudges against people who I feel have flamed me, slammed me, or whatever. Life's too short and there's too much good folk music to hear!

Which is to say: I love you all, even my Republican friends like DougR and Teribus. (Unless you guys think that's icky. In which case I can just respect you, okay?)