Bloggingheads.tv: Corn Goes Soft on Tax Cuts Deal

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The headline is true—sort of. After talking to senior administration officials, I gained a better perspective on how President Barack Obama came to decide in favor of the tax cuts deal that will temporarily extend the Bush breaks for the wealthy. And I note that I’m somewhat sympathetic to how he confronted that dilemma (spin works!), though I still believe his miscalculations led him (and us) to this difficult point. I explain that in my latest Bloggingheads.tv exchange with conservative Jim Pinkerton, who tries to persuade me that Republicans don’t just care about tax cuts for the rich. They also want to “starve the beast,” he says.) We also discuss WikiLeaks and its implications for journalism and governance.

 

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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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