Tea Party Express Banks on Tucson

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is taking heat for blasting out a fundraising email based on the gruesome shootings in Tucson over the weekend that left six people dead and at 14 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Sanders’ email read in part, “In light of all of this violence—both actual and threatened—is Arizona a state in which people who are not Republicans are able to participate freely and fully in the democratic process?” The Hill‘s Brent Budowsky wrote in response, “I like Bernie and respect him, but there is absolutely no excuse for turning this tragedy into a fundraising opportunity.”

But Sanders isn’t the only one who leveraged the Tucson tragedy into cash. On Monday, the Tea Party Express fired off an email asking contributors to “stand with Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh + Tea Party” and fight “liberals” who were linking conservatives to the weekend’s shootings. “We want to have our largest fundraising day in the history of our organization and we need your help to achieve this success,” the email read.

And there’s more. Another Tea Party Express email from Monday accuses liberals of “trying to exploit this shooting for their own political benefit, and they used deception and dishonesty to try and smear all of us and our beliefs.” The heated message goes on to say, “Well guess what: to those liberals in the news media and on the political Left who think you can silence us, you are wrong! Your efforts to try and smear us and shut us up will fail.” Then, at the very end of the 600-word email, this:

“We ask you to please stand with the Tea Party Express and show your support for our efforts.

You can make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express – CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.”

Enough said.

(h/t First Read)

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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