One wonders how loud and angry the Republican response would have been if a petty clan Democratic senators had written an open letter to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev lecturing him on the intricacies of the U.S. Constitution in the midst of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty talks.

Or what the GOP’s reaction would have been if similar correspondence had been sent to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam while Henry Kissinger was negotiating the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War.

Although the scolding letter sent this week to Iranian leaders by 47 self-satisfied Republican U.S. senators isn’t, as some suggest, treasonous, it’s in the neighborhood. And while it wouldn’t be a stretch to argue the letter is unpatriotic, we’ll settle for calling it shameful and stupid.

Among the signers is New Hampshire’s own Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who, despite emphatic and persuasive criticism of the letter, has yet to explain her reasoning for endorsing such a dopey idea.

The senators should remember that regardless of what they think of Barack Obama personally or professionally, he is the president of the United States, twice elected by a majority of Americans. That means he has earned the privilege of being treated with respect, especially on the international stage, where he is charged with directing the nation’s foreign policy. It is wrong for members of Congress to purposely and demonstrably insult the president and seek to undermine his policies. That there are also undeniable domestic political motivations behind the rebuke renders the letter particularly loathsome.

To broadcast to the world blatant contempt for Obama and his right to conduct foreign policy carries the collateral damage of disrespecting the office of the presidency, and to show disrespect for office is to show disrespect for America and its exceptionalism.

And that is what renders the correspondence idiotic well beyond its dishonorable intentions. Republicans constantly whine that the president’s lead-from-behind and inconsistent foreign policy undermines respect for America around the globe. So, what does the gang of 47 senators do to counter that? They write a snotty letter to one of the nation’s most dangerous adversaries claiming that they have the real power to control treaties and the president has an much influence as a department store mannequin.

The consequence of this international relations amateurism is to further undermine the president’s worldwide reputation and, even worse, cast the U.S. government as a band of dysfunctional and untrustworthy malcontents.

It’s a message that resonates not only with our antagonists, but also with the very allies with whom we are jointly negotiating for a nuclear arms settlement with Iran – a poignant fact to which the letter is naively oblivious. Among that group – which includes the European Union – the U.S. has taken the toughest line. Other nations are much more willing to cut Iran some slack. So the letter, by undercutting the president, could have the counterproductive result of making it more difficult for the U.S. to convince our allies to maintain a harder line against Iran. Brilliant.

There are signs that some Republican senators are having second thoughts. But at least one of the explanations is only making matters worse. Sen. John McCain told Politico that many of the letter’s signatures were obtained in haste during a GOP lunch last week as senators were rushing to avoid an approaching storm. “It was kind of a very rapid process. Everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm,” he said.

Sounds like they thought they were buying Girl Scout cookies instead of interfering in international diplomacy.