Quote of the Day: Jon Kyl’s Scorched Earth Politics

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From Dana Milbank, describing how Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl amost single-handedly torpedoed any chance of a compromise agreement in the supercommittee:

“Walking napalm” is how one Democratic aide involved in the supercommittee described Kyl this week. And if the senator makes some mistakes as he burns down the village — well, that’s just a cost of doing business.

This pretty much describes Kyl’s entire career. He’s been a cold-blooded front man for the interests of the tanned and wealthy since the day he showed up on Capitol Hill, and nothing has changed in 25 years. He’s leaving exactly the way he arrived, most likely tickled pink at this latest description of his scorched-earth legislative style. It’ll probably end up inscribed on his post-Senate business cards.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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