Gee. I guess we take you at your word, you don't intend to be inflamatory. And you are not challenging us liberals to defend our patritotism, just define what patriotism is. So here goes.
"Patriotism," like "nationalism," means taking a standpoint favorable to one's homeland, or state, or whatever. "Patriotism" can be defined as dedication to one's homeland, when such dedication is a good thing. "Nationalism" is a similar state of mind, when it is a bad thing. In this sense, it is like the difference between "liberty," which is freedom to do good things, and "license," which is freedom to do bad things.

So the question remains, who is a "patriot," and who is a "nationalist." And the short answer is, people who support the president's policy of making unprovoked attacks on foreign nations because they may be building weapons which sometime in the future might be used against us are "nationalists."   And some, but not all, the people who oppose it are "patriots."

Thus "patriots" are such "liberals" as me and Dick Armey. Nationalists include such conservatives as John Hardly, Joe Lieberman, and Tom Lantos. Make sense?