Progress Now Action

I just received this email from someone I know in California who is politically indeterminate, but knows that we need to change the way our government is run. It's a response to the "Backstage with Barack" campaign solicitation email:

"Dear Idiot Democrats,

"Backstage" with Barack????"
Is this a rock concert now?
This is F**KING undignified.
Is this how the democrats are trying to seem hip and cool now?

Get this.....
Bush got elected because people thought they could have a beer with him. That somehow this is a valid method of choosing a President.
It's not, and neither is this.

I don't want to have a party backstage experience with Obama. I want a serious candidate who will win the election and pull us out of this moronic tailspin Bushco has put America in.

What is the matter with you people?"

Now, I'm sure that several, ok, most of the people who tour this fine website that would agree with most of the sentiment "expressed" in this email.

And maybe there's a reason for this much anger directed at the Obama campaign - is a historic moment like this appropriate to be presented like Van Halen's appearance at the US festival?

But whatever the validity of this author's opinion, this is the classic example of how the Left engages in self-destructive behavior when we want to make a point.

I'm certain that Tom McMahon is NOT monitoring his inbox to judge the feedback of this fundraising email, but I'm sure someone is. And by insulting the Party in the first line of the email, the author has guaranteed that his or her email will either be promptly dispatched to the deleted folder, or marked as spam and blocked from any further reception.

In that, it did not accomplish a damn thing, other that to let the author vent some political steam.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Veterans and honor guests, if we want our voices heard among our peers and our enemies, we need to be calm, collected and honest. Hooting and screeching like so many flustered hens only makes the right-wing noise machine's job that much easier.

If we need to make a point on the facts, doing it angry and livid only makes it easier for the Right to dismiss it. Think about it - how many times has our claims about this Deserter President been dismissed as "just the ranting of angry latte-drinking liberal?"

Yes, it's easy, but it works. And we haven't been smart enough to stop doing it.

SO the next time you jump into the fray of political opinion and you want to posts an angry, vicious comment about something that's going on, please follow this bit of wisdom imparted to my by a wise old NCO in Public Affairs:

"Engage Brain before Releasing Mouth."