Yesterday I received an email from Matt Stoller asking BlogPac members to take action regarding a poll recently conducted by CNN. The poll asked if CNN viewers thought Barack Obama was patriotic enough to be President of the United States.

Matt made a great case for why progressives need to take a stand when a situation like this arises:

I don't know about you, but to me, this feels like a sequel to the 2004 Swiftboat attack.

We learned back then that staying silent doesn't seem to work. The lies keep coming, they keep getting repeated, they keep getting echoed ever more widely through the establishment media. And they never stop with just going after one Democrat, they accuse the rest of us by proxy on the basis of shared positions.

Here is the form letter that I sent through the BlogPac website:

Dear CNN Editors,

Have you stopped beating your spouses?

I ask, because your network recently polled your audience on a Republican smear of Sen. Obama's patriotism. I thought you might have forgotten that there are ways of repeating something that's untrue, or an unverifiable opinion, in such a way as to give it credibility.

Why is CNN raising questions about the patriotism of Democrats again?

People look to CNN as a voice of reason and responsibility. You're leaders in cable news, with extraordinary power to lend credence to any story.

I don't remember your network ever doing this to Republicans. Not as they drove the country headlong into a damaging war. Not as they defended policies that attacked the Constitutional protections of our founding documents and the 900 year old right to habeas corpus. Not as they have repeatedly attacked the patriotism of people who were injured in honorable military service to the United States of America.

Further, I would strongly urge you not to echo any future, divisive, anti-liberal insults that hark back to the nationally destructive Army-McCarthy hearings. You shouldn't need it explained why this is bad.

Stop giving legs to attacks on the patriotism of legitimate participants in the political process. Stop insulting your many Democratic viewers, because we take a back seat to no one in love of our country.

Please apologize to Sen. Obama and your viewers, and stop this nonsense.

Thank you,
Ian Magruder

Write your own letter to CNN here.