A Bold Stand from the Journal

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As a wise man once said, you could devote your entire life to debunking inane Wall Street Journal editorials once you let yourself get sucked into their gaping maw. But via Ezra Klein, today’s editorial is a gem, not pretending to even a germ of reason or sanity:

The White House is now floating a bipartisan commission to reduce federal borrowing, and much of the political class is all for it. We only hope Republicans aren’t foolish enough to fall down this trap door….Republicans should respond with their own choice: They’ll agree to a deficit commission only if it takes tax increases off the table….

Yeah, I’m sure Democrats will jump at that deal. And I can’t wait for the Journal’s detailed fiscal plan for cutting federal spending by 30% — especially since they simultaneously seem to think that Medicare should be cut and that it should be preserved as is. Should be a crowd pleaser.

In fairness, plenty of liberals agree with the Journal in a mirror image sort of way: a commission would be nothing but a facade for Pete Peterson to gut Social Security and Medicare and probably throw in a few tax cuts for the rich for good measure. It looks like bipartisanship has as bleak a future in 2010 as it did in 2009.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

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.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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