National Security in the Polls

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President Bush has used “national security” as his signature issue since 9/11. The economy’s down? Hey, don’t forget we’re fighting the war on terror. But for the first time in a long while, Americans have started saying that they trust the Democratic Party on national security issues more than they do the president, 43-41 percent. Considering that in 2004, Bush won partly because voters had more confidence in him than in John Kerry over the “war on terror,” it’s hard to dismiss these polls as significant.

Also, according to a new poll on the Dubai port deal, just 17 percent of Americans favor letting a Dubai operate U.S. ports, while a walloping 65 percent believe the sale should be prohibited. Where this will push Republican members of Congress, we don’t know. But to remain in the good graces of the 65 percent of Americans who don’t support the Dubai deal, it would seem wise to part ways with the president.

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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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