Jerry Brown’s Stage of Life

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I’m curious. Jerry Brown has been running the ad on the right for the past week or so here in California. It ends with this line:

We’ve got to pull together not as Republicans or as Democrats, but as Californians first. At this stage in my life, I’m prepared to do exactly that.

Question: is this an effective way to blunt criticism that he’s old and kind of tired looking? Would you buy the idea that Brown is now sort of an elder statesman who no longer has a career to worry about and only wants to do what’s best for the state? It actually seems sort of clever and possibly effective to me, but what do I know? Comments?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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