May 16, 2008

John McCain and the NRA Make Nice

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McCain is speaking at the NRA today, as part of his quest to woo traditional parts of the Republican base. Like with so many other situations, McCain has a history opposing the group he now seeks to cozy up with. Here’s McCain in 2000:

For its part, the NRA called McCain “one of the premier flag-carriers for enemies of the Second Amendment.” Nowadays, though, the organization is ready to play ball. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president told the press that there are “vast numbers of areas” where McCain and the gun lobby agree. And McCain showed last year that he can parrot the right talking points when necessary: “I strongly support the Second Amendment and I believe the Second Amendment ought to be preserved — which means no gun control.”

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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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