I am perpetually irritated by the socially naïve nature of virtually all of America when personally and innocently conversing with any and all PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS.  Virtually every putatively Conservative Talk Show Host or Talking Head will include the obligatory: “but I like him/her personally.”

How far in a professional political career do you think anyone would go without those ever-ingratiating social skills?

Back in the 1980s, when I actually began paying attention to politics, I first learned of a self-respecting Democrat Senator from Ohio named Stephen Young.  He was born in 1889, died in 1984, and a sitting Senator from 1951 through 1971.  I obviously learned his ‘story’ retroactively.

When angry constituents would write to his office, his staff would respond with a form letter that said: “Dear Sir: It appears to me that you have been grossly misinformed, or are exceedingly stupid.  Which is it?”

You can find that response on Wikipedia.  In the 1980s, long before the creation of Wikipedia, I had also encountered (probably at his death in 1984), the response: Dear Sir: I wish to inform you that a lunatic or a moron has stolen your identity and communicated with this office.