January 20, 2010

TSA Nominee Calls it Quits

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The fallout from being Coakleyed continues:

The Obama administration’s choice to lead the struggling Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday, just weeks after revelations that he had provided misleading information to Congress prompted several Republicans to suggest his nomination would not move forward without a fight.

….Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had promised to rally votes to overcome those holds and force the nomination through as early as Wednesday. But such a battle would have added to the political distractions caused by the outcome of Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts, in which Republican Scott Brown won a surprise victory to capture the seat long held by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — and deal a shocking blow to the Obama administration’s domestic agenda by eroding the Democratic majority in the Senate.

The “misleading” information that Erroll Southers provided was (a) trivial and (b) concerned an incident 20 years ago. Republicans couldn’t have cared less about that. They just wanted to pick a fight over the fact that Southers isn’t a diehard opponent of TSA unionization.

And now Dems have caved. Tomorrow, of course, they’ll go right back to wondering why the image persists that they’re weak on national security issues.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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