CounterPunch, the muckraking political newsletter founded in 1994 by investigative journalist Jeffrey St. Clair and recently deceased iconoclast Alexander Cockburn, has paid a “savage price” for maintaining its deeply critical view of President Obama during the 2012 presidential campaign season.

The newsletter’s plea for increased financial support illustrates the predicament faced by all liberal political publications dependent on donations for survival. All were under intense pressure to support President Obama in his bid for re-election.