Here's an email solicitation I received from the DNC:

Aaron -- Yesterday, Republican Congressman Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued an outrageous personal apology to BP and slammed the President for his efforts to hold them accountable. Worse, if the GOP wins back the House, Barton is the guy who could be in charge of regulating the oil industry. Think about it: In the Gulf right now, jobs are being lost, ecosystems are being destroyed, an entire way of life is being upended. And Joe Barton is apologizing to the oil company that caused the disaster. We're whipping together an ad as fast as possible to make sure voters know exactly whose side Barton and the GOP are on and to demand they stop apologizing to big oil, but we need your help to get it on the air. If you're as furious as I am, will you chip in $5 to help us fight back? https://my.democrats.org/BartonAd Thanks, Brad Brad Woodhouse Communications Director Democratic National Committee

You see? THIS is the problem with money in American politics. I'm disposed to agree with Mr. Woodhouse. Joe Barton's apology to BP was despicable. But when every communication finishes with a request for cash, it undermines the message. I get annoyed just like I used to get annoyed with a semi-homeless guy named June Bug who frequented my neighborhood in North Carolina. It's like, "I'm sympathetic to your plight, June Bug. It doesn't even bother me that you're going to use whatever money I give you to buy beer. That's just how it is. But seriously, man, do you have to put your hand out every time we meet?"

I'll give the DNC five dollars. (Actually, I'll give them $100.) I do want the Democrats to hold onto the House. But we have to recognize that this constant need to beg for money on the part of our politicians is degrading to them, to us and to the quality of our political culture.