Maybe you’ve heard about that scandalous Republican PowerPoint presentation delivered by Finance Director Rob Bickhart. According to Politico, the presentation breaks donors into two categories:

The small donors who are the targets of direct marketing are described under the heading “Visceral Giving.” Their motivations are listed as “fear;” “Extreme negative feelings toward existing Administration;” and “Reactionary.”

Major donors, by contrast, are treated in a column headed “Calculated Giving.” Their motivations include: “Peer to Peer Pressure”; “access”; and “Ego-Driven.”

The PowerPoint includes caricatures of Democratic leaders as the Joker and Scoobie-Doo. Of course, cable news has gone bananas, and Republican Chairman Michael Steele has repudiated the material.

But should he? I rise in Bickhart’s defense.

First of all, the whole approach isn’t exactly Don Draper. Fear, peer pressure, flattery. That’s what every political fundraising campaign is about. Anyone surprised to learn that wealthy Americans are “ego-driven?” Anyone shocked that marketing officials have a superior attitude about small donors, or that the powerful crave access? Even the offensive images are ripped-off from Tea Party placards.

I’m not sure that Bickhart should be bounced for assembling a glorified slide show of common knowledge and recent themes in Republican angst.

Is this story even news? Before this leak, everyone knew that fear would be a centerpiece of the G.O.P. campaign in the fall. And guess what? It still will be.

So Bickhart’s offense is hard to pin down. What about his plan? I scroll down Politico’s story …

The RNC’s “Young Eagles” – younger major donors and the only group, according to a major donor, continuing to pull its weight financially – are invited to a “professional bull riding event” in October, expected to raise $50,000, and to a no-holds-barred Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Las Vegas the same month, expected to raise $60,000.

The RNC’s aim, according to one section of the document: “Putting the Fun Back in FUNdraising.”

Ouch. Well, I tried.

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