Obama’s Attack on Rove Raises Money for Rove

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.


For days, President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee have been slamming Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie for pouring millions of dollars from secret sources into House and Senate campaigns via two groups they co-founded, all to benefit Republican candidates. In response, Rove (falsely) accused the president of creating an enemies list. But he really should say, thank you. On Wednesday morning, Jonathan Collegio, communications director of the two Rove/Gillespie groups, sent out an email to reporters, noting that the Obama blasts have been very, very good for the Rove operation:

American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS have raised more than $13.3 million since Barack Obama and the Democrats launched their broadside against us last Tuesday. We have blown through our initial $50 million fundraising goal, with $56 million raised across both groups as of today. We have increased our overall fundraising goal to $65 million.

This additional funding has enabled us to initiate the new $10 million House Surge strategy, as detailed in today’s Wall Street Journal, and dedicate an additional $5 million to our Senate efforts.

In other words, please, Mr. President, hit us again. Please.

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. The deadline’s almost here. Please help us reach our $150k membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. The deadline’s almost here. Please help us reach our $150k membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate