April 15, 2005

It’s tough being Donald Rumsfeld

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Check out the transcript of Donald Rumsfeld’s talk with U.S. troops in Kyrgyzstan. He opens up the question and answer session with this:

Now I’d like to hear a few questions. It’s late in my clock. We’ve been traveling, so if you have any tough questions –If you have any questions that require diplomacy, the Ambassador’s right here. And if you have any nice, easy ones, I’m happy to respond.

And after fielding a somewhat difficult question, he wraps up with, “Last question. Make it an easy one. I’ve had a long day. I started in Baku.”

It’s not like he’s talking to the press here. The people he’s talking to are risking their lives for our country and are simply asking questions regarding their mission. At one point, true, Rumsfeld acknowledges the difficult circumstances they’re in:

So, I know that you folks are a long ways from your families and that they also sacrifice even though they’re not in a war zone or in a difficult situation – they’re not living in tents. I saw the tents when I came by. I can’t imagine what they look like with 10 or 12 inches of snow. Has anyone been here for that? Did any of the tents cave in? Did the heat go out? [Laughter]. Well, life’s like that.

Yet he repeatedly asks them to “go easy” on him in their questions. Pretty poor form. Check out Intel Dump for Phillip Carter’s further analysis of the substance of the Q&A session.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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