I haven't seen any redefinition of patriotism, myself. I hear plenty of complaints about it, however. Democrats try to make it sound like a dirty word. Clinton's UN Ambassore once said, Nationalism is a code word for racism. [His confirmation hearing.] The Republican Senate approved his appointment overwhelmingly, not because they liked what he said, but they had no clear, specific reason not to appoint him. To me, that was specific enough. To me, nationalism is no different than patriotism. I might be wrong about that.
Regardless, patriotism means love of country and it's people. It always had, and God willing, it always will. Being a patriot does not necessarilly mean you love freedom. Nor does it mean you want a nanny state. Nor does it mean you want an Orwellian state. Those are separate issues, IMHO. No idiology other than patriotism [love of country and its people] has a monopoly on the flag. The rats get very confused about that. And that is a powerful advantage of the GOP.
Freegards....
The Republicans should not have confirmed the bastard who made that statement. While nation and race have often been used interchangeably in history; and race, limited to its biological sense, is indeed a factor in nationality, the coupling in that derogatory sense telegraphed loud and clear that the man was a doctrinaire Leftist, interested in undermining, not supporting, national loyalty. To understand the mindset, see Myths & Myth Makers In American "Higher" Education, particularly the section on Gordon Allport, a Parlor Pink Fellow Traveller from Harvard, who considered even loyalty to family an undesirable source of prejudice--but whose book on the subject was still being used as a textbook, thirty years after his death.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site