Tonight’s Debate Wrapup (Sort Of)

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I’m sorry, but I just don’t have it in me to try and say something intelligent about tonight’s debate. Generally speaking, it wasn’t quite the train wreck that some of the others have been, but that’s faint praise. And it’s appalling that for the second time in a row, a foreign policy debate had no questions — not one — about Europe. The entire continent is on the verge of imploding, and possibly taking us down with them, and Wolf Blitzer doesn’t care. And at the end, when the candidates got a freebie question to talk about any issue they felt wasn’t getting enough attention, no mention of Europe again. It’s just baffling.

Anyway, here’s my Twitter stream for the night. That’s the best I’ve got for you.

5:08pm Good to see Romney singing along. Looks authentic!

5:25pm I think Santorum just lost the Muslim vote.

5:28pm Newt Gingrich is….AWESOM-O!! ow.ly/7CnWd

5:32pm “Huntsman’s problem….is that he doesn’t seem to hate Democrats.” ow.ly/7Co0n

5:34pm Hey, Perry mentioned India! Progress!

5:56pm And literally. RT @RichLowry: did newt just use candidly and frankly w/n abt 5 words?

6:04pm How much oil does Gingrich think we have in America?

6:04pm Oh, and Lean Six Sigma!

6:10pm Perry seems unaware that budget trigger was originally a Republican proposal.

6:13pm How long are we going to have to wait this time before Europe gets mentioned?

6:41pm This debate is only two hours, right?

6:42pm Why are candidates promoting drones on border instead of blimps? America needs a stronger blimp fleet.

6:43pm Jeez, such a whiner. RT @MaxBoot: No mention yet of Arab Spring, with demonstrations in Egypt, open revolt in Syria, etc.

6:45pm Already spent an hour talking about Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan. But we’re going to “widen” the conversation by going to the Middle East?

6:46pm Surprise final questioner will be George W. Bush! #secretsourcestoldme

6:50pm RT @RichLowry: a no fly zone is not a sanction its an act of war

7:05pm Virtues again from Perry. Is this some kind of dog whistle I don’t understand?

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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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