Barbara Cubin

honoring our rubber-stamp congress, whose members have found plenty of time to do squat

Image: AP/Wide World Photos

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She arrived in Congress already famous in Wyoming for passing around penis-shaped cookies to her male colleagues in the state legislature, which she later explained by saying, “People sometimes do things that they wouldn’t do in front of their mother.” Then, during the Florida recount battle, she screamed in a meeting, “We are bending over and taking it from the Democrats!” When some of her colleagues were alarmed by the rather un-family-values-esque image, she snapped, “Quiet down or you’ll get a spanking.”

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The Man Behind The Curtain Award

Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) was summoned by Barbra Streisand to the coast to huddle with famous Hollywood political strategist Warren Beatty about the Democrats’ postelection malaise. The House minority leader had to endure a “dramatic reading” of Babs’ three-page memo, entitled “Nice Guys Finish Last,” which the media struggled valiantly to quote witheringly, except that it’s really, really boring.

Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) sent out a fundraiser letter allegedly written by Thomas Towles. Towles is Bunning’s 11-year-old grandson. “If you can, please include a special gift of $500, $250, $100, $50, or even $25, along with your signed card to help his campaign,” wrote the child. “I know it would mean a lot to Grandpa.”

Dennis Hastert held a press conference in front of a throng of hard-hat-wearing “working Americans” — who were actually lobbyists in disguise.

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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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