Michael Steele, Really Bumbling Through This Specter Situation

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Michael Steele and the RNC sent out an email to supporters late last night trying to raise funds on Specter’s switch. “His defection to the Democrat Party puts the Democrats in an almost unstoppable position to pass Obama’s destructive agenda,” he wrote. “Join me in this fight by making a secure online contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 right now.” For good measure, he calls Specter “craven” and Obama backers a “band of radical leftists.”

My favorite bit, though, is when he follows up that name-calling by comparing the RNC and its supporters to America’s greatest statesman.

Some will use Specter’s defection as an excuse to fold the tent and give up. I believe that you are not one of those people. When Benedict Arnold defected to the British, George Washington didn’t fold the tent and give up either.

What’s a little self-flattery among friends? Steele also said yesterday that Specter, who is basically a moderate conservative, has a “left-wing” voting record. Which is a pretty clear signal that, oh, 70 percent of Americans and their political views aren’t welcome in today’s GOP. Nice work, Chairman Steele!

Update: Uh oh. Looks like Steele is facing dissent in-house.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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