September 4, 2008

Next Time McCain Says Palin Commanded the Alaska Guard, Laugh

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On Wednesday, ABC News’ Charlie Gibson interviewed John McCain. An excerpt:

GIBSON: Senator, since I’ve been following politics, every single presidential nominee has said that the first quality they look for in a vice presidential pick is the capability and the readiness to take over as president. Can you look the country straight in the eye and say Sarah Palin has the qualities and has enough experience to be commander in chief?

MCCAIN: Oh, absolutely. Having been the governor of our largest state, the commander of their National Guard.

Later in the interview, McCain said, “Governor Palin knows the surge has succeeded. She’s the commander of the Alaskan National Guard.”

We now interrupt the spin for some facts. After interviewing the service commander of the Alaska National Guard, McClatchy newspapers reports, “Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.” Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It appears she has no command experience whatsoever. The news service notes, “The governor has granted [the service commander] the authority to act on his own in most cases, including life-or-death emergencies — when a quick response is required — and minor day-to-day operations.”

So it’s clear: when McCain and his surrogates talk about Palin’s experience, the only honorable course is to not mention the Alaska National Guard.

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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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