Which is, of course, just what was intended. NOW we all know why Senator McCain turned hard right, don't we?

Yep, that's the name of the game, alright. SCOTUS really made it easy for

the moneyboys this time. Money really does talk, and the more money the louder and more persuasive the talk.

I like Feingold and it's a pity he lost, and I wish him well.

SCOTUS the best backstop that money can buy. America, what a country....

pathethic!! why don't you loons educate yourselves on what that decision was really about... instead of listening to msdnc and brainwashing yourselves.

Oh, Gregman...please enlighten us on how a Supreme Court decision unleashing more money into the electoral system is about anything other than unleashing more money into the electoral system.

Thrill me with your acumen.

DJ - LOL!

What I don't understand is why he is still on the forum. His side won big, wouldn't you think he'd be satisfied and creep away already?

For your elightenment, DJ, per Justice Kennedy's own words on the decision: "If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech." ... you're welcome.

Actually, Joyless, I only come by here once in a while to get a few laughs... and there are plenty to be found here!! LOL!!

and the owners of the stock in all of these businesses are American citizens?

Gregman; when you're making less than minimum wage because Michelle Bachman got her removal of the lowest base pay after corporate America got together and bought votes for her, you can enjoy a good laugh then trying to pay your mortgage on twenty-five cents an hour.

What makes you assume he even has a job? He sounds more like a spoiled junior high kid.

Gregman: So, corporations are citizens? If we are going to follow the conservative screed of 'strict Constitutionist' (or even more laughably, 'originalism') please show me where in the Constitution that corporations are people. You can't because it doesn't. From what I've seen conservatives have a much more flexible interpretation, bending it to what they want, ignoring the amendments they don't like. To call yourself a strict Constitutionalist or a Constitutional Orginalist (like Scalia) AND embrace the concept of corporate personhood is the height of dishonesty.

The Citizen's United decision not only made them citizens, it made them 'super citizens'. They get to give unlimited amounts anonymously. I'm limited to $2,300, and my name must be listed, there for anyone to see, including an employer who may not like it if I'm donating. Why don't I get the same rules? If they can be anonymous, why can't I? The First Amendment guarantees Free Speech. But the anonymity is paid speech, not free speech. The vast sums are one thing, its the anonymity, the shielding of them from stockholder and market scrutiny is quite another. This is not consistent with "free market" ideology.

In many cases this is a single individual, taking corporate treasury funds, and using them to bankroll a candidate of his/her choice, likely without shareholder knowledge. Using those funds, that are not really theirs, to push private agendas. Maybe it's affecting your dividend.

The "tea party" would be nowhere without its corporate benefactors. And to think that they bankrolled them without expecting a return on their investment is criminally naive. Like I've been saying to "tea partiers" that I know, you are enabling the corporate control of our government. Once that happens you can kiss your "freedom" and "liberty" goodbye.

alright, let me break it down into simpler terms, so everyone can understand.

Yes, howie, billyboy, U.S. corporations are comprised of people and thus are citizens who make decisions on how to spend their company's money. (There are already other laws preventing foreign corporations from contributing to U.S. campaigns, so no need to go down that road.)

McCain-Feingold prevented political speech except for a select few "associations of citizens" officially classified as media. The Citizens United decision stated that portion of the law was unconstitutional since it prevented speech to everyone.

Paully, if I only made minimum wage I wouldn't irresponsible enough, nor be qualified to have a mortgage.

actually, uffda, I do have a job and support my family... and you sound like a typical childish lib, despite your many years.... likely due to all the brainwashing you've subjected yourself to.

Maybe he can make a run for Governor in 4 years. Wishful thinking, I hate to see him completely out of the picture. He was such an asset to the state, and they screwed him anyway.

The Dems outspent the GOP 2:1 but you won't find that out unless you broaden your reading/viewing experience. I'm sure I've just wasted a minute writing this as the die hard liberals will never search for views that challenge theirs. Such is life.

Vote in 2012!

Your source for this is? I thought so.

He drank the koolaid at the glenn beck rally, he's a lost cause, perhaps sharon angle can provide a second amendment remedy.

Feingold is a great man and losing him as a senator is a sad day for our country let alone Wisconsin.

Anyone saying the democrats outspent republicans is delusional, just look at whitman. This misinformation is just further proof the right wing is hellbent on polarizing this country, buying their way into office, and distorting the truth; All to line the pockets of their campaign contributors and perpetuate the lies that keep the naive voting for them and the weathly laughing all the way to the bank.

Amen, bro.

What I find as an embarassment to our country, during these economic hard times, is the billions of dollars spent by all the campaigns. If these big spenders are so concerned about creating jobs and stabilizing the economy, those billions of dollars sure would have come in handy in that prospect. Now those dollars mostly line the pockets of media moguls. Now THAT is unprecedented government and wannabe government waste of money. Shameful. If anyone of these spenders really wanted to create jobs, they would have done so with this money, instead of putting up promises in the media advertising that they will.

Corporations don't care about jobs, its profits. When I worked for an MBA way back when, his attitude was he's not running a social welfare system to keep people employed. His personal goal was to make a million before he was 30. And this was on a defense contract where he wasn't going to do that. He dumbed down the management where I worked and eventually I left.

http://www.alixolson.com/lyrics/BLT_americasonsale.html

This was written in 2001 and is more relevant than ever.

McCain-Feingold was a ray of hope that was stomped out by special interests. we have a failed system where you need to campaign half the time you are in office and the other half butting heads and accomplishing little; especially if it will look good for the president or the left. there needs to be sweeping reform to the election process, limited campaign time, and more incentive to vote. perhaps a tax refund for those who vote. It is a vicious cycle of distorted propaganda and the need to counter the lunacy, fear mongering and special interest ads or lose. It starts earlier each election cycle and is a huge waste of money. If the money spent on campaigns were invested in revitalizing our economy and rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, what would one side have to blame the other side for?

It was a 5-4 decision. We don't need one to die, we just need Kennedy to wake up and realize what an idiot he was.

Kennedy must have made serious bank on that decision.

I'm sure Ginny Thomas' Tea Party made plenty of money on the decision, and I'm sure she and her pervert hubby made some of their own as a thank you.

Feingold 2012.

A bought and paid for House of Rep. by Tiawan and the Peoples Republic of China.

Me too. I'm still mad!

I moved to Arizona a year and a half ago from Wisconsin, I wish I could have voted in Wisconsin.

True words.....Now we are the United States of Corporate America.

ran by the unions

I still fail to understand why union is such a bad word. Without unions, we would be slave labor. Period. No corporations are run by unions. Your statement is not only false but unnecessary.

Fought by Unions.. Take your medicine

Gregman; complaining about unions too? You MUST want to get paid a quarter an hour with no protection.

The only thing people will pay him to do is go away. Even that may be a stretch for his meager abilities.

..and who's going to read all those silly bills with Russ gone? I was very disappointed with the lack of national attention to what I saw as the single most important race for the Senate. I'm also upset that no one ever followed up when I reported that there were some serious shenanigans going on with absentee ballot applications. You can check on http://www.longdistancevoter.org/

I noticed, and it could have been great timing or coincidence, but it was after someone kept talking about the race in Alaska on these blogs that MSNBC finally decided to cover that race. And I think in doing so, they highlighted the crazies of the GOP/Tea party.

It's sad that the same didn't happen in Wisconsin - maybe everyone just thought Feingold didn't need help? Didn't pay attention? - and now the least qualified candidate in Wisconsin history is now the new Senator.

I really miss Peter Jennings...during the campaigns, he would go through ad after ad, breaking down fact from fiction! Everyone now must assume that people will do this on their own; but they don't (due to the success of the "fear factor") or aren't able to, due to being elderly or not having a computer. I think the major television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) have a responsibility to make sure the public knows the truth! The poor do not have cable television!

They tried, I'm sure, but nothing can drown out the overwhelming power of 9 million hours of Fox News bashing and disinformation.

He had more integrity in his little finger than any one else in Congress, including the Dems.

No kidding. A friend pointed out that some other Democrats won and my reply was I'd trade them all to keep Russ in the Senate. I don't care if it's 99 Republicans and 1 Russ.

Dave, I said the same thing. I mean, the whole night I basically was making deals in my head. "Well, you can have Joe Sestak and Grayson, but I have to keep Russ."

Idle thoughts..........wonder how different our election process would be if money were not involved at all. Each race would be based on Merit alone. No monetary donations - everything on a volunteer basis only. Ingenuity the motivator.

Radio and T.V. Stations would give candidates free, but limited airtime.

IOW, each candidate would start out equally - just as athletic runners all start equally at a Start Line.

And I agree with ToughCookie - no badmouthing the opposition.

Well, that was fun. Now back to reality.

I hate to say we should emulate England, but it does one thing right with its elections. NO TV ADVERTISING!!!

Dave,

The UK may have it's faults, but there are some good things here too. We don't have political adverts in the same way you to in the US, what we do have is Party Political Broadcasts, these are essentially adverts that are shown around election time they last for about 15 or 20 minutes, and as far as I know do not have to be paid for by the political parties, all the major parties get the same amount of air time for their broadcasts across all free to air stations.

Oh, and while I know that most non-Brits use "England" and "UK" interchangably they are not one and the same thing, England is part of the UK. The other parts being Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in a general election all parts of the UK get to vote (and see the ppb's) on who represents them in Westminister.

Thank Heavens for that. That Robinson guy was so far out he was almost in.

He was disgusting from the minute he opened his mouth on Rachel's show, IMO.

Why not? If there's proof of illegal campaign donation acceptions, then the voters should be able to demand a recall of the elected official, right? If a town's mayor can be recalled by the township, certainly a Senator can be recalled by the stateship?

No kidding. I've heard of olympic athletes being forced to give up their medals. Marion Jones, for one. Getting a recall is pretty tough though.

Question?: If I wanted to sue the makers of a certain product, whose name would I use as the one I want to sue?

If SCOTUS allows corporations to be people, do I sue one of the employees of that Corporation? And if so, which one?

I am not clear on who to sue. Could I contact SCOTUS and John Roberts in particular to find out?

Um... Johnson's for NAFTA. Won't call for disclosure. Defends pedophiles, multiple times. Portrays himself as a self-starting businessman but inherited the company. Says 'no' to government healthcare while having his employees be a part of Badgercare.

Anyone who even does an iota of research on Johnson would show what a true liar and hypocrite he actually is.

The same goes for trying to blame Feingold for the decade's deficit from the surplus of the Clinton Administration. Feingold voted against the Iraq war, at least, and I think the bank bailouts (correct me if I'm wrong). But my point still stands about Johnson.

Drew,

Johnson did not inherit the business he is in. He married into money and its is his wife's family business.

http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/ron-johnson-said-he-started-business-ground

jns - "Johnson did not inherit the business he is in. He married into money and its is his wife's family business."

Yes, cause when the handout comes from your wife's daddy - well that really is the same as "self made".

As Molly Ivins so aptly put it describing another one of this ilk. He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Great job Wisconsin - the senate really needed more millionaires with a sense of entitlement.