October 10, 2008

Fear-Mongering and Fox

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Various outlets are growing concerned with the anti-Obama anger that seems to have taken over McCain/Palin rallies of late. I’d like to point out that Fox News is doing far, far more to entice hatred and possibly violence than the McCain campaign is. If you take your cues from Fox News, you’re likely to think America is under attack by a foreign terrorist agent who holds both a Islamic faith and a communist agenda. Further, you likely believe that this secret Stalinist Muslim will steal the election from god-fearing Americans through his connections to ACORN, the single sleaziest organization on the planet.

Yes, McCain and Palin have drifted into seriously shady territory by implying that Obama is an unamerican terrorist sympathizer. But Fox is way more explicit in its race-baiting and fear-mongering than the McCain campaign is.

As just a bit of evidence, see this Daily Show clip:

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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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