July 19, 2013

The Bellowing, Belligerent, But Completely Ineffectual History of Ted Cruz

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I suppose I could save everyone some time and just tell you to be sure to read Dave Weigel every day, but his clinical dissection of Republican firebrand Ted Cruz is really worth a minute of your time. After running down Cruz’s almost flawless lack of success during his first six months as a senator, he concludes:

That’s the story of Ted Cruz’s strategic acumen in the Senate. The paradox is that the theatrics that completely backfire in D.C. are embraced by activists in the bright world outside.

Cruz has built a quick reputation as the loudest mouth in a body famed for its loudmouths, and it’s led to nothing but disaster and defeat for the Republican Party. But the tea partiers love him all the more for it. If he ever actually made a difference, they’d probably abandon him instantly as a sellout.

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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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