March 6, 2009

Quote of the Day – 03.06.09

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From Fox News chief Roger Ailes, talking about Barack Obama’s efforts to turn America into a socialist hellhole:

“I see this as the Alamo.  If I just had somebody who was willing to sit on the other side of the camera until the last shot is fired, we’d be fine.”

Last night I was channel surfing and happened to land on Sean Hannity’s show for a few minutes.  Marian walked in and wondered why I was watching it.  “Doesn’t he just increase your blood pressure?” she asked.

I’d never really thought about it, but I realized right then that he doesn’t.  Lou Dobbs increases my blood pressure.  Chris Matthews increases my blood pressure.  Maureen Dowd increases my blood pressure.  But Hannity?  Rush Limbaugh?  Glenn Beck?  Nah.  They seem so frankly clownish, and so completely insulated in their little cocoon of viewers who already agree with them anyway, that they just don’t bother me much.  That’s probably a little too lackadaisical on my part — they can still drive cards and letters into congressional offices, after all — but the fact is that they’ve lost their ability to push my buttons.  Their particular brand of freak-showism just doesn’t seem so scary these days.

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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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