October 18, 2013

Surprise! Mitch McConnell Reads Mother Jones

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5435148905/sizes/m/in/photolist-9hhypT-8Qv2wg-BY9rZ-6P2kBn-a3FP3b-ffBk21-6ptYBN-7Gei5H-9xKRKN-8UG5xY-dy6jRn-8TTXLg-c8UNmq-c8UN1J-cE7HJC-81Cx4n-dwSt21-dwLYip-dwLYdV-dwSsVy-dwStBd-dwLYsr-dwLXyc-dwLY9v-dwLY5t-dwSsrE-6zgZRu-cvi2YW-cvi3oL-cvi2nJ-cE7J51-cE7HVd-92X6Bh-eZmrxi-eZmrrX-7w3JEH-7w3AaD-7w7r7U-7w7t91-8yxqKy-9hhznM-9hxoJw-9hxpi9-9hugtk-9hkGsE-9huh7a-9hugLp-9hug9Z-9hhzMx-9hhyPT-9hkHgf/">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr

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In an interview on Thursday morning with the National Review‘s Robert Costa, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made an intriguing comment that caught our eye. Fresh from helping to broker the deal to end the government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling, McConnell was asked by Costa if political factors in Kentucky were shaping his legislative strategy in Washington. As we’ve reported, McConnell faces a tough reelection fight, including a fierce primary challenge, with Kentucky tea partiers steaming over McConnell’s deal-making on issues like the 2012 fiscal cliff deal, Syria, and now the debt ceiling.

McConnell’s response: “Oh, that’s the Mother Jones thesis.”

Here’s the full exchange:

COSTA: A lot of reporters think your decisions are driven by political considerations in your home state, especially your primary versus Matt Bevin and a potential general-election campaign versus Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. How are those factors shaping your strategy?

MCCONNELL: Oh, that’s the Mother Jones thesis. I have nothing to say about my primary opponent. And this week, it’s pretty obvious about whether that’s driving my decisions. As for [Lundergan Grimes], the whole rationale for her candidacy is that I’m part of the dysfunction in Washington, so she’s probably been pretty unhappy over the past 24 hours. I’ve demonstrated, once again, that when the Congress is in gridlock and the country is at risk, I’m the guy who steps forward and tries to get us out of the ditch. So it’s been a bad 24 hours for her, and she’s going to need to find a new rationale.

We’re flattered to know that McConnell, arguably the most influential Republican official in Washington, reads Mother Jones. We assume he’s referring to a September 19 story by David Corn which examined whether McConnell’s tea-party challenger, Matt Bevin, was preventing the minority leader from fully engaging in the shutdown negotiations. “McConnell must fear the wrath of [Kentucky Senator Rand] Paul and the Paulites, should he engage in wheeling and dealing that results in any accords that offend the sensibilities of the tea partiers,” Corn wrote. “Caught between Rand Paul and the White House, one of the most powerful and sly politicians in Washington has little room to work his behind-closed-doors magic.”

For what it’s worth, we’d also direct McConnell to our reporting on other aspects of his reelection fight, including the race’s hefty price tag, the fundraising dream team assembled by Lundergan Grimes, McConnell’s tea party challenger, and grassroots conservatives’ dim view of McConnell and their eagerness to oust him.

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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.

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 won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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