An apology to the group [View all]

This past weekend I responded to a post from this group that upset a few people and caused unnecessary discord. My carelessness in posting meant I failed to note that I was NOT posting in GD which is my normal haunt, but in this group where folk expect to be able to discuss President Obama without the acrimony that is arises from people less than happy with his policies or actions.

In mitigation, I did not directly insult the president, I indirectly insulted him by impugning his coming successor claiming that person would be as bad as the current president. When called to task on this, I got snarky with Irishayes, not realizing that I was in the wrong venue for my remarks (when I said forum, I was referring to DU, not this group) and came across as a troll. No matter my intent, my actions were unacceptable.

To say I am mortified and ashamed is a bit of an understatement. While I am no shrinking violet when it comes to "spirited" discussion on DU, I never would have posted in this group in the tone which I did if I had paid attention to where I was. I do not offer this as an excuse, but an explanation. The failure to know where the hell I am is mine, and mine alone.

My actions got me booted from the group, something that has never happened to me in the 10+ years I have been on DU, so I am doubly ashamed. I sent a PM to the group admin (SheShe2) and asked to be re-instated so I could apologize from my disruptive actions.

The danger of spending a lot of time on political forums like DU is that unless you are on your guard, you can become cynical and bitter. Unfortunately, I have allowed that to happen of late and allowed it to cloud my judgement and certainly my powers of observation.

So, I apologize for my childish actions and ask your pardon for disrupting your group. I apologize here to Irishayes and SheShe2 and promise spent more time pondering my words before hitting the "post" button.

My thanks to to SheShe2 for allowing me back on to try and mitigate my foolishness.

With respect and chagrin,

David Allen (no relation to Skinner)