i never said conservatives gave liberalism a bad name, i said conservatives have made it a dirty word. in other words, calling someone a liberal when it comes from a right-winger is like using racial epithets at <insert minority race here>. you can't deny that conservatives, republicans, etc use it that way because you use it that way yourself. if the conservatives didn't make it that way, who did? i highly doubt the left is going to invent a word to denigrate themselves in the main stream, whatever your revisionist view of it may be.

also, whether or not the NYT has a bias (which every news source does) doesn't mean it's not a credible source of news. i read NYT, fox, WSJ, LA times and i consider all of them worthy news material WHEN THEY ARE ONLY REPORTING A STORY. of course each paper's editorial sections have their own bias but editorials are not news no matter how much some people may wish them to be so...

also also, i have a catch phrase i made up for people who claim to be militant moderates. feel free to use it if it suits you "not just maybe, but HELL MAYBE!"