I'm sure by now you've all seen the odious article by Nedra Pickler of the AP concerning Barack Obama's supposed lack of patriotism, as defined by flag lapel pins. As Shane Hensinger pointed out, this is the same Nedra Pickler who has consistently repeated right-wing talking points and inserted them into the AP wire.
Shane's diary included an action tool to contact the AP and MSNBC about their Cavuto Mark question about Obama's patriotism, but that is not enough.
What does matter is writing letters to the editor to your local paper telling them what you think about the smears against Obama--and below the fold is a tool you can use to make it easier.
The good people at FireDogLake have put up an extremely effective tool for you to use to contact your local papers about the patriotism smears on Obama:
Here is the link!
Basically, here's how it works: you input your zip code, and watch as a list of local, regional and national papers magically appears on your screen! You check the papers you want to send your editorial to (and don't forget those local papers--it may not feel big time to you, but a lot of people read them, and a vote is a vote!), input your contact information, write your letter, and...voila! Your LTE will be whisked away to the papers you choose!
There are a few simple rules for writing LTE's--I'll just go over two basic points:
- Keep it short. Preferably no more than two short paragraphs (not sure about word count). Papers won't publish lengthy items because they don't want to have to take the time to edit them.
- Keep it courteous. Papers won't publish vitriol either.
If you have other suggestions, please post them in the comments. I'm going to go submit a few of my own right now.
update: As always, Glenn Greenwald's take is excellent, and provides Obama's response:
"A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans' benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary?
"That is a debate I am very happy to have. We'll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism."
At the link above, Greenwald also references this diary, which is pretty sweet.
(h/t to taylormattd in comments below)