January 14, 2009

Deconstructing W

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DECONSTRUCTING W….Howard Fineman on Hardball yesterday:

George Bush has never accepted the proposition that the world is complicated.

Me in the Washington Monthly three years ago:

I’ve long viewed George Bush as a temperamental conservative, the kind of guy you meet in a bar who slams down his drink and asks belligerently, “You know what this country needs?” — and then proceeds to tell you.

I think we’re both saying about the same thing. But I was more colorful! In any case, I think this is about the closest I’ve ever come to describing Bush’s essential character. Just thought I’d share.

UPDATE: Matt Yglesias thinks I’m being unfair to drunk guys in bars. Maybe so!

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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