Bachmann Fights Back

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bachmann.jpgWith her career in jeopardy because of her McCarthy-esque comments on Hardball, Rep. Michele Bachman (R-MN) is in full spin mode. She’s telling everyone who will listen, “Chris Matthews laid a trap, and I walked into it.” And she’s trying to raise money off of the episode. Here’s an email she sent to supporters:

Nazi. Psychopath. Deranged. Mentally ill. Disgusting human being. Bitch.

I apologize for the rude language. But, these are just a few of the names that my staff and volunteers have been called over the past 24 hours simply because they work for me.

Ever since my appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday night, my office has received calls from all across the nation – California, Illinois, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, Vermont, and elsewhere. Some of the calls have been respectfully disagreeing with my statements on the show. Most, unfortunately, are full of hate and anger and language like that above – and worse.

And, they’re putting their money where their mouths are.

My opponent has told the media that the Far Left has donated more than half a million dollars in the 24 hours following the show.

Click here to let them know that we’re not going to stand for their lies.

…Chris Matthews did what Chris Matthews is paid big bucks to do: Twist my words and set them up for full-fledged distortion when his next guest came on. And, when the liberal blogs got hold of little clips of my appearance, the spin machine really kicked into overdrive.

…And, that is what is inspiring hard core leftists from all across the country to send more than half a million dollars to my opponent.

Here, again, is the quote that got Bachmann into the most trouble: “The news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.” You know, I’m not sure that needs twisting from Chris Matthews or the liberal blogs (hi!) to make it inflammatory. It’s pretty damn inflammatory on it’s own.

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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 canā€™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.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

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