Bachmann Vows to Ban Teleprompters From White House

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Economists disagree on many things, but one thing you’ll find a near-consensus on is the idea that President Obama’s frequent use of a teleprompter is slowly destroying the American economy. Because of President Obama’s frequent reliance on the teleprompter, credit agencies have warned that the United States’ AAA credit rating could soon be downgraded, causing Americans’ interest rates to soar. Unemployment, meanwhile, is stuck at upwards of 9 percent—again, because of President Obama’s repeated use of the teleprompter.

There are few issues more critical to the nation’s well-being, which is why we’re happy to report that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has promised to ban teleprompters from the Whiten House if she’s elected president. Via Gregory Pratt:

“I know you’re not used to seeing a president without Teleprompters,” she told an Iowa crowd. “But I’m just here to tell you President O’Bach — President Bachmann will not have teleprompters in the White House.”

Oof. Maybe those teleprompters wouldn’t be such a bad investment after all.

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We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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