Okay, This Illustrates the Silliness of Polls

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Under the short but entirely appropriate heading of “WTF?” Wonkette observes that the Lifetime Network actually commissioned a poll to ask women voters… well, I’ll let Wonkette explain.

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Women would rather carpool or go on vacation with Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama than with his Republican rival John McCain, a new poll of U.S. women voters showed on Tuesday.” What the fuck does this even mean? “Carpooling” and “vacationing” are two very distinct acts. So they have asked women across the country, basically, which candidate they would rather schlep to pre-school or, conversely, go to the Jersey Shore with.

And that’s relevant how? Lifetime commissioned the poll as part of its “Every Woman Counts” campaign, which seeks to increase engagement in politics by women. Is it making the incredibly patronizing suggestion that women’s voting behavior is informed by which candidate they would rather take on a beach getaway? As opposed to, say, the candidates’ energy platforms?

We’ll know even more after the Golf Channel’s poll on which candidate male voters want to snap towels with at the Elks Lodge. Thanks, Lifetime!

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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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