I like David Mixner.

He’s smart, he’s driven, and he seems passionate about doing the right thing (whatever that thing may be). But his blog post from yesterday left me cold. Here’s an excerpt:

If the House and Senate fall into Republican Tea Party hands on November 2nd, the LGBT community will be facing the most hostile United States Congress in our history. The election of these bonafide Teabagging wing-nuts could cause chaos, fear and intimidation in our political process. Their ascendancy to power would validate some truly dark and despicable forces operating in American politics. If we think it is hard to achieve equal rights now just try and do it in a Tea Party dominated Congress….

Don’t get me wrong. My faith in the Democrats has not been reborn – however there are many, many allies of the LGBT community who support full equality, including marriage equality, who are in tight races on the ballot. For us to punish them by staying home is inconceivable to me. Why in the world would we abandon our real friends in a time of need?

…This year voting is about protecting sanity in American politics. The last thing you should do is play games with this election by stay home. Unacceptable. Untenable. And unbelievably scary.

[DavidMixner.com]

Hmmm.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. That’s not solely because of the Dems’ stance on LGBT issues, which has traditionally been more progressive than that of Republicans (though the differences are flattening out). It’s also because I believe in using government money to help others by funding public schools, healthcare, Social Security and other programs.

But Mixner’s argument pisses me off.  It uses the same offensive scare-tactics I see from most GOP and Tea Party candidates. As a longtime political strategist, he should know better.

I mean, sure, I understand that the Tea Party is essentially a big, political euphemism for the Christian Right. They do not please me. I understand the importance of voting, too. And I understand that a GOP-controlled congress would cause many, many problems — not just because their party platform rejects LGBT rights, but because they’ll butt heads with the Obama administration and slow the political process even further.

But Mixner’s fear-mongering is no better than David Vitter’s current TV commercial — which I am watching THIS VERY MOMENT — which says “Barack Obama’s radical agenda is DESTROYING AMERICA.” Hearing a hooker-hiring diaper fetishist get all righteous and indignant is bad enough without Mixner cranking up the volume in the echo chamber.

Bottom line: I don’t do drama very well. When people get shrill, I tune them out. Mixner’s got the right idea, but his message is way off. That’s a damn shame.

Just get out there and VOTE, goddammit.