Facebook Poll Asks: Kill Obama?

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The Secret Service is investigating a facebook poll (since taken down) that asked if Obama should be assassinated.

The answer choices: “Yes,” “No,” “Maybe,” and “Yes if he cuts my health care.”

Pretty scary stuff. But what’s scarier is how unsurprising it is.

Really, what’s the difference between this and a gun-toting Obama-hater holding a sign that says “It’s Time to Water the Tree of Liberty“—a nod to a Jefferson quote about neccessary bloodshed? (The health care angle is particularly predictable, considering the feverish odium it’s evoked).

But gimmicks like these tend to serve as an easy access point for greater social ills. And there’s something about a poll like this—its hatred so distilled and its medium so pedestrian—that forces you to confront the question: Just how bad have things become?

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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