letters, we get letters. and we write them, too.

i got an email from rose kapolczynski, barbara boxer’s campaign manager, today. well, probably not really from rose; i’m sure an intern wrote it and somebody else approved it. to be honest, i didn’t even read the whole thing before i dashed off a response. i got to this part and my trigger finger hit the ‘reply’ button:

I just got off the phone with Barbara, and she’s absolutely thrilled by the tremendous response the BarbaraBoxer.com online community provided to her email from Thursday—raising more than $20,000 for her re-election campaign in just the past 2 days!

That’s terrific, but I know we can do even more in these last 24 hours before the September 30th fundraising deadline.

and this was my reply:

hi rose (or more likely, the convio mailbox set up to receive responses that never get read, much less answered);

let me put it simply and plainly. i love barbara boxer. but i’m not going to give another dime to barbara or ANY democrat until i see one—just one—stand up and do something REAL and MEANINGFUL for once.

if barbara wants my money, here’s what she can do:

• she can write and sponsor a bill that denies any further funding for the war and presents a responsible plan for bringing our troops home beginning immediately. then she can stand up on the senate floor and demand that the republicans actually filibuster that bill and explain why the will of 70% of the american people is being denied. the “threat” of the filibuster is a GOP shield behind which not only republican cowards are hiding, but democrats as well. and while i have great respect for senator boxer in many areas, she is a coward on the issue of the iraq war. even my hero, russ feingold, isn’t doing enough.


• she can immediately denounce all of her fellow democrats who voted to condemn moveon.org for the petraeus ad, loudly and often. perhaps she hasn’t yet seen the cover of the American Conservative magazine naming petraeus as the “sycophant savior.” at least they and moveon have gotten it right. she should embarrass the hell out of her fellow democrats who gave life to the bait-and-switch load of crap “condemnation.” the fact that democrats even showed up to vote on that is pathetic.


• she can demand that we immediately begin impeachment proceedings against bush and cheney. you think i’m a left-wing loony who’s unrealistic and vengeful? if she has any doubts about the basis for impeachment, please have her consult REPUBLICAN bruce fein. he can educate her about something she so clearly either hasn’t researched or doesn’t have the moral courage and political will to pursue.so let me be clear again: i, and everyone within my sphere of influence, will no longer give a penny—you see, i’ve even gotten stingier over the course of writing this email—to barbara or any democrat until i see some signs of moral courage and respect for the will of the american people.

to be honest, i don’t have even a glimmer of hope that barbara will do any of the above. and that, perhaps even more than what’s happened to this country over the past 7 years, is so incredibly disappointing and depressing that further words fail me.

respectfully yours,