Spitzer Resigns

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Eliot Spitzer has resigned effective next Monday. There’s not much to add, but let’s take a step back and reflect on the double standard at work here. Spitzer cheated on his wife and broke the law, but he hasn’t been charged with a crime. He is now out of office and endured intense pressure to resign in the two days it took him to make up his mind.

Larry Craig, on the other hand, pleaded guilty to a crime (disorderly conduct) and cheated on his wife. He is still in office. David Vitter, whose number appeared in the DC Madam’s phone logs, likely cheated on his wife and likely broke the law, but was never charged with a crime. He, too, is still in office.

So what’s the double standard? Governors vs. Senators? Jews vs. Gentiles? Democrats vs. Republicans? Or people with self-respect vs. people without?

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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