Bill Thomas

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

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Thomas breathes new life into the phrase “in bed with industry.” Despite the controversy surrounding the affair, Thomas went on to author the term’s key Republican health care legislation.

The Dan Quayle Award

Rep. Mark Foley, the son of a public school teacher, wanted voters to know of his opposition to TPA, or Trade Promotion Authority. He released a statement denouncing the “PTA.”

Senator John Breaux (D-La.) wrote a note during the stimulus package debate and pinned it to a Congressional elevator, reading “STIMULAS NEEDED!”

Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) pontificated last December on the need for yet another C.R., or “continuing resolution,” whereby Congress avoids shutting down the government by borrowing a few hundred million more dollars. Despite gales of laughter from Congressfolk, he persisted in referring to the need for “CPR .”

Senator Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) denounced spending billions on Bush’s space-based missile-defense system, saying, “This isn’t rocket science here.”

Back | And the winner is…

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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