Barbara Cubin

honoring our rubber-stamp congress, whose members have found plenty of time to do squat

Image: AP/Wide World Photos

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She arrived in Congress already famous in Wyoming for passing around penis-shaped cookies to her male colleagues in the state legislature, which she later explained by saying, “People sometimes do things that they wouldn’t do in front of their mother.” Then, during the Florida recount battle, she screamed in a meeting, “We are bending over and taking it from the Democrats!” When some of her colleagues were alarmed by the rather un-family-values-esque image, she snapped, “Quiet down or you’ll get a spanking.”

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The Man Behind The Curtain Award

Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) was summoned by Barbra Streisand to the coast to huddle with famous Hollywood political strategist Warren Beatty about the Democrats’ postelection malaise. The House minority leader had to endure a “dramatic reading” of Babs’ three-page memo, entitled “Nice Guys Finish Last,” which the media struggled valiantly to quote witheringly, except that it’s really, really boring.

Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) sent out a fundraiser letter allegedly written by Thomas Towles. Towles is Bunning’s 11-year-old grandson. “If you can, please include a special gift of $500, $250, $100, $50, or even $25, along with your signed card to help his campaign,” wrote the child. “I know it would mean a lot to Grandpa.”

Dennis Hastert held a press conference in front of a throng of hard-hat-wearing “working Americans” — who were actually lobbyists in disguise.

Back | And the winner is…

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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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