I have to hand it to Democrats. This is the first time they’ve ever labeled someone a traitor and not sought to ally with him against the United States.

Chris Matthews, the longer he stays at MSNBC, becomes more and more as dumb as a bag of rocks. He thinks the 47 United States Senators who signed a letter to Iran should be charged under the Logan Act. Left wing activists have labeled them “47 traitors”.

I’m not sure what low grade moron came up with the talking point, but someone should kick the originator of the talking point in the crotch. It’s just stupid.

The Logan Act originated in 1799. Not a single person has ever been convicted under the Logan Act. Ironically, the namesake of the law, George Logan, after compelling John Adams to get the act passed, became a United States Senator. The Logan Act serves mostly as a partisan tool to throw at opponents who dare to contradict a sitting President’s foreign policy.

Democrats have, for years, routinely sought to undermine Republican administrations and their foreign policy. Lest we forget, [mc_name name=’Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’M000404′ ] flew to Baghdad in 2002 to have a photo-op with Saddam Hussein in opposition to the Iraq War.

Former Speaker Jim Wright worked with the communists in Nicaragua to undermine President Reagan’s foreign policy. The Democrats forget about that too.

The “Logan Act” talking point has been passed around by a bunch of dim witted buffoons like Chris Matthews. It’s great red meat for a partisan crowd, but will not be used and most likely cannot be used.

As Steve Vladeck noted on his Lawfare site,

The text of the Logan Act makes it a crime for citizens to engage in “any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government . . . with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government . . . in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States.” As Peter explained yesterday, the Senators’ letter certainly seems to fall within this language. But, critically, the citizen must act “without authority of the United States.” Although most assume that means without authority of the Executive Branch, the Logan Act itself does not specify what this term means, and the State Department told Congress in 1975 that “Nothing in section 953 . . . would appear to restrict members of the Congress from engaging in discussions with foreign officials in pursuance of their legislative duties under the Constitution.”

It’s a stupid talking point used by unserious people who want to avoid having to deal with the fact that the President of the United States is giving away the farm to Iranians who, given the chance, would gladly kill him, you, me, and everyone complaining about a Logan Act violation.