July 20, 2009

Dear Senator Lieberman

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Dear Senator Lieberman,

I know we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, but I need your help. I’m confused. I thought you were supposed to be hawkish on foreign policy and Israel, moderate on social issues, and liberal on economic issues. That seems to be the conventional wisdom. But if you’re so progressive on economic issues, why are you trying to hold up health reform? You must realize that if health care is going to get done, it’s going to have to be this year—2010 is an election year.

The Republicans have been all over television talking about how if they can just delay health care past October, they can “break” President Obama. So why are you signing letters urging the President to “resist timelines”? Just because you think it would be better for things to move slower doesn’t change the political reality. The longer this takes, the less likely it is to happen. You used to be a Democrat: you know, the party that’s been trying to give Americans universal health care since Harry Truman’s presidency. It’s been over sixty years. Haven’t Americans waited long enough? Progressives might disagree with you about Iraq. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t love to see you leading on health care. Do it.

-Nick Baumann

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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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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