March 17, 2006

The new Paul Hackett: “Some have alleged that our president led us to war on false pretenses. I believe we should look into this

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Hilarious Daily Show clip on Paul Hackett, erstwhile Democratic congressional candidate and subject of this Mother Jones cover story and these follow-ups. Hackett recently dropped his bid for an Ohio Senate seat, claiming he’d been sandbagged by establishment Dems.

Some highlights:

Paul Hackett: “I was asked by Senator Schumer and Senator Reid and others to get out of the race…. They backed away from supporting me because they realized that I’m outspoken, that I believe in what I say and I’m willing to fight for what I
believe in.”

Ed Helms: “There’s your problem right there.”

On today’s Democratic Party:

“If you take a look back at the party of FDR
… and … of Truman and even Kennedy. That was a party that
had balls. The new Democratic Party eventually is going to have
to get back to that”

By the end of the segment the “Democratic Party machine” has smoothed out Hackett’s rough edges (“Try it again, but without the emotion.”), and he’s back on message:

Hackett: “Some have alleged that our president led us to war on false pretenses. I believe we should look into this…. I believe we should take care of our environment. That’s why I’m standing in front of a river.”

Voiceover: “Paul Hackett for Senate—because he won’t rock the boat.”

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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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