Yes it can, you just know who to pay. Candidates just have to keep promising to validate the gray train tickets and everyone will vote their way!

We have a spending problem and as long as the govt keeps giving money away things will only get worse.

Money did not buy this Presidency because Romney = LLLLLLLLoserBoy............

lets see what happens first?

There ya go. You have a short list on who gave to who. If you really want to make those contributors special, stop spending your hard earned money on their interest. If these contributors get the double whammy maybe at the next elections they will stay out of it.

Unfortunately, money CAN buy elections! It is ONLY due to the MASSIVE Obama-Democratic Ground Game that we WON. If we lose focus, fail to keep OFA in-place as Organizing For America, we WILL LOSE to big $$. We should have EASILY retaken the House; We didn't. Due to MONEY.

Adelson was trying to buy himself a new DoJ, cant wait to see him in stripes.

RBknows

Yes, they are called entitlements... like the 54 BILLION we give in subsidies to fossil fuel companies. Amazing we have to pay higher taxes when those industries are making 100+ Billion. Oh wait, they are not unions so it must be okay.

Brian-531678

Umm no... Goodbye GOP Socialists... the ones who want to continue redistribution of wealth from the lower/middle class to the rich and corporations. The ones who got us in this mess in the first place with the theory of trickle down economics. WE PUSHED back the red menace again.

Mr. Adelson invested in the best possible company in the world he could find.

His political opponents consider it a loss... well... that alone explains a lot.

More butt hurt RWNJs I see. Our government does not have a spending problem IT HAS A REVENUE problem. From 1940-1982 this country had a top tax rate between 70% to 90% WTF were you morons doing then? I guess you do not know your history, like the fact that unions ARE AT THE SMALLEST IN HISTORY. HOW ABOUT PAY YOUR WORKERS A DECENT WAGE? Something like 1/10 instead of the 1/1000 they are getting now, that is the problem with this country. People would not need government programs then, but you are to stupid to understand that.

High top tax rates are the only thing that limits how much the people at the top pay themselves. It needs to be harder to make more money not easier to make more money, the more money you already have. If not you enter a condition called exponential runaway that our system CANNOT ever supply and eventually BREAKS our system, but once again you are to stupid to understand a simple system. Instead of only thinking of yourselves, try to think about the health of the system like an engineer would. You don't want to pay your employees, you don't want to pay your taxes, you don't want to pay for chit, expect to be able to hoard it all for yourselves, but are willing to spend how much to get puppets elected...and I wonder what the problem is?

Maybe you should have just paid your employees more instead, bet they would work harder too, but you are to stupid to understand that. Instead you think it is better to have your boot on the peoples' throats. The same ones that enable you to stay in money and power. A smart person would actually take care of those people instead of treating them like chit. A shepard takes care of the sheep since his life depends on it.

The median household income should be over 100k, but it is only 50k thanks to rich people not wanting to pay their fair share of taxes. Worker's wages have went stagnant since the 60's when the top tax rate was dropped from 90% down to 70% since they get rewarded MORE for paying their workers LESS. Small businesses have been on the decline ever since 1982 when the top tax rate was dropped down from 70%. Our debt has skyrocketed since then too. It is not like these economic problems started in the last 4 years, THEY HAVE BEEN GOING ON FOR OVER 30 YEARS NOW MORONS.

Am I the only one that sees the oxymoron in blowing $20m on Elections and being called "CONSERVATIVE"?

The irony is that the economy is not doing so bad if these people had millions to donate and piss away.

You can spend a ton om money on advertising and sell garbage for a short time. But it doesn't talk long for the consumer to realize that garbage is garbage and after that, consumers won't purchase it no matter how much money you throw at it. The Republican party, as it exists today -- is garbage. Throwing money at candidates like Todd Aken, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich is a waste of money. The problem is the Republican brand, not a lack of money. The days of Limbaugh republicanism are over and money is not going to revise them.

Long Rule KING OBAMA Long Live the United Social America

Our boarders are always open - feel free to pack up and leave. One less of your kind makes a better country for the rest.

Thank you, Tired. Excellent post. Especially now that the Republicans are beginning to realize they probably could have taken the White House had they shelved the Tea Baggers. As an aside I tuned into Fox News on election night and it was like tuning in to an alternate universe. Their so-called pundits were explaining the Republican losses by saying the candidates "weren't conservative enough."

The good news is that the moneyed people lost, the bad news is they have so much money it doesn't affect them anyway. They just didn't get a candidate that will allow them to pay less tax. It was an investment for them; if Romney got in they would save the money they spent and much more in his tax breaks for the super rich.

Some information I heard and put together during election night was that ACA will cost around 1 billion dollars over ten years and Presidential candidates spent 1 billion dollars just in one election. Hopefully this will put things in perspective. Who says we can't afford health care?

There is only one way to end the "money buying elections" issue and I've been trying to get everyone of you involved for over two years. If you haven't gone to www.faircampaignreform.us yet and gotten involved in the Popular Amendment Movement, why not? This is the ONLY way that the American citizens can ever take back the power of our electoral system. Congress will never do anything that will get past the current activist conservative SCOTUS to correct the problem. It is time to take the implied method that our founding fathers gave us, per James Wilson: http://www.usconstitution.net/constam.html

Popular Amendment

One other way of amendment is also not mentioned in the Constitution, and, because it has never been used, is lost on many students of the Constitution. Framer James Wilson, however, endorsed popular amendment, and the topic is examined at some length in Akhil Reed Amar's book, The Constitution: A Biography.

The notion of popular amendment comes from the conceptual framework of the Constitution. Its power derives from the people; it was adopted by the people; it functions at the behest of and for the benefit of the people. Given all this, if the people, as a whole, somehow demanded a change to the Constitution, should not the people be allowed to make such a change? As Wilson noted in 1787, "... the people may change the constitutions whenever and however they please. This is a right of which no positive institution can ever deprive them."

It makes sense - if the people demand a change, it should be made. The change may not be the will of the Congress, nor of the states, so the two enumerated methods of amendment might not be practical, for they rely on these institutions. The real issue is not in the conceptual. It is a reality that if the people do not support the Constitution in its present form, it cannot survive. The real issue is in the practical. Since there is no process specified, what would the process be? There are no national elections today - even elections for the presidency are local. There is no precedent for a national referendum. It is easy to say that the Constitution can be changed by the people in any way the people wish. Actually making the change is another story altogether.

Suffice it to say, for now, that the notion of popular amendment makes perfect sense in the constitutional framework, even though the details of effecting popular amendment could be impossible to resolve.

It was upon this basis that I and a group of other Newsvine posters developed these two amendment proposals in July/august 2010 when we saw what Citizens United was leading to in the Congressional and state-wide races. I then paid to host the website for promoting the Popular Amendment Movement effort. Keeping the website running is my contribution to the cause, since I live in the US Virgin Islands where we have NO vote for president, NO representation in the Senate, and NO VOTE on the floor of the House (only a vote in whatever committee(s) our Delegate to Congress can be assigned to.) Yet our entire governance is determined by Congress through the Organic Act. We are basically second class citizens in the US territories. I lost my voice in government when I chose to move from OH to St. Croix in 1995 (for better weather.) PAM is a totally grassroots organization. We do not solicit any contributions and we have no formal organization. The website is the basic "organization." Download the petitions below from the site, sign them, circulate them among family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Email to everyone you know. Help form a local grassroots movement to collect the signatures and petitions, then work with other communities to form county/regional groups and a state-wide movement. Check with your Secretary of State to determine how many valid signatures would be required for YOUR state to call for the constitutional convention that would be required to pass these amendments. BE SURE TO MAKE COPIES OF EVERY PETITION AND HAVE THEM "DATE STAMPED" when you file the original petitions so that you have a record of what signatures were filed and when. That is your protection to make sure that your Secretary of State can't deny you your rights under the Constitution. OFA and all other grassroots groups should have been assisting in this effort for the past two years. It is not too late to get this done before the 2014/16 election cycle.

Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Election Reform

We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.

Election Reform:
1. Abolish the Electoral College (Repeal Amendment 12)
2. ONE NATIONAL primary date to be held on the Tuesday eight (8) weeks prior to the General Election day for Congressional offices and for the President. Candidate petitions must be filed with the local/state elections boards 60 days prior to the Primary Election date. Federal election petitions shall be uniform in every state and shall include a “contract with the voters” that spells out clearly what that candidate stands for on all issues that they may have to address in elected office. They shall be held accountable in court for breach of that contract if elected and any/all terms are not met.
3. NO campaigning allowed for any elective federal office more than 60 days prior to the National Primary Date.
4. NO campaign contribution shall be donated to any candidate of more than $200 from an individual or $500 maximum from a family (spouses/children living in the same household.) No donations shall be made to a candidate more than sixty days prior to the primary date. No candidate shall contribute from their own funds more than 60% of the total donations from other private individuals.
5. NO campaign contribution from any PAC, corporation, union, non-profit organization, special interest group, etc. shall be allowed for any elected federal office.
6. NO third party campaigning (separate PAC ads, corporate ads, etc.) for/against any candidate shall be allowed at any time during or before the election season.
7. NO party conventions shall be held to select the presidential candidates. The selection must be done at the ballot box in the primary election.
8. The One Man/One Vote Supreme Court ruling shall be enforced by this Amendment, namely that NO federal candidate selection shall be by any means other than the ballot box on Primary/General Election Dates.
9. National Party Organizations shall NOT raise money for or donate to specific candidates of their party prior to the dates outlined above.
10. PAC’s shall NOT be granted tax-exempt status by the IRS, and any non-profit organization who uses their funding for political purposes shall lose their tax-exempt status.
11. All lobbyists shall be outlawed from influencing Congress at all times.

This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.

Name Signature State Address

Petition for US Constitutional Amendment For Congressional Term Limits

We, the undersigned US citizens, duly registered voters in our respective states/territories, do hereby petition for our state to approve the following amendment to the United States Constitution by the method noted below.

Term Limits for Congress:
1. Representatives to Congress shall serve no more than two two-year terms in the House.
2. Senators shall be elected to no more than two six year terms in the Senate.
3. No elected official shall serve more than six terms in office in any combined elected offices (House/Senate/Presidency.)

This amendment shall be approved ONLY by State Constitutional Conventions to be called within 90 days of this petition being submmitted to a state’s Secretary of State. A minimum of 25% of the registered voters in each state shall be required to further this petition to the respective Secretary of State.

Name Signature State Address

WHEN

were

these MAJOR POLITICAL FUNDERS

going to realize that

the

MAJORITY

of Americans

were totally

DISGUSTED

with their

Bullying, Buying, & WAVING THEIR 1 % Cash around.

HOW DARE THEY SCREAM that WE THE PEOPLE are a drain on their lifestyle.

.

.

.

CEO's sitting on mountains of CASH...

and yet they won't hire, invest, innovate, expand....

and we were supposed to believe that a BUSINESS-MAN knew how to create jobs and improve our infrastructure?

Also, stocks were down across the board after the election, except insurance and health provider stocks. That's a great sign of things to come of the ACA and the middle class.

The Party of HATE lost on Tuesday 11.6.2012.

It was a GREAT DAY FOR DEMOCRACY.

There will be an implosion in the GOP, it should be fun to watch. I hope what resurrects from the GOP is the old GOP that contains moderate, conservatives. Cut the hatebaiters, teaparty taliban, and bible thumping neanderthals.

President Obama, please have the moxy to take the obstructionists, John, Crybaby, Boner and Mitch, Dinosaur, McConnell over the cliff if that is where they want to go.

Attention Democrats-Can someone please publish the e-mails of these Super PAC contributors for us? I would like to send a Thank You to Sheldon Adelson, as his spending $53,000,000 of his own personal money helped stimulate the economy a ton, especially during the past 6 months, which was a major contributing factor to President Obama's shellacking of Poor Little Mittens.

I believe all who voted for Obama should send these people a sincere letter of thanks!!

I'm amazed at the stories corporate media is throwing out there about the Democratic win. Almost nothing about the landslide electoral vote victory in favor of Obama. Nothing about the the dissatisfaction of the people with wall street and corporations trying to buy an election (this article the exception?).

Most articles I'm seeing are what will,can the Republicans do to regain power. Well it seems money isn't the answer.

Bobber? Faux says not conservative enough? lol I hope they go with that next election too.

"Dirty diapers isolated R & R" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wherever there was a big disparity in money spent on election, the candidate with more money usually wins. That is a proof that money does indeed buy an election, and that is why there is so much money in US politics.

@whoozer Nobody's upset that they are successful. More power to them. What's upsetting is that after Citizen's United, certain people in the country have a vastly disproportionate ability to influence elections. This is a democracy where one person = one vote. Not an oligarchy.

Probably the best book written on how corrupt (and why) the American campaign finance system is read Lawrence Lessig's Republic-Lost. One of the salient points he makes: in the US we have three elections...(1) the one-day primary election, (2) the one-day general election and finally the most important election, (3) the "fund-raising" election for the other 363 days of the year. If everyone who has posted to this thread read that book, most would come to the stark realization that "We the People"'s interest...the "people's business" is completely subserviant to moneyed interests, be they corporations, Unions, individuals, foreign countries. In other words and to borrow from Rick Perry, "Pay for Play".

Voting machine failures with software scanner problems, nice try Tagg !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Real Loosers : CEOs, Big Banks, 1%ers, Republicons, Teabaggers

Biggest loosers : Koch brothers, Karl Freken Rove and scorn artists

The REAL winners : 99%ers

Biggest Winners : The middle class

How about the demonized community organizers? Holy freken cow, you earn my respect folks

I'll drink to that folks

Sheldon Adelson, is not very successful at his own game? He lost all bets.. . .

I voted for President Obama, however, I found Mitt romney's concession speech to be the most humanitarian words he ever used in the entire election. On the topic of money in the elections, we should merely go back to publically financed elections as in pre 1947 rules. Many countries do this and their elections are not only less "dramatic" than ours, but they also don't last as long in calendar time, which allows their citizens to have much less mental wear and tear.

If we take the approximatley 3 Billion dollars spent on the federal, state, and local elections in this recent cycle, and figure it could have taken about 1/4 of that with publically funded elections, about 2 + Billion could have been given to charities (Favorite republican mantra regarding "personal responsibility" and not "paying welfare from tax dollars") OR given to the relief efforts to mitigate the problems those suffering from homelessness or displacement due to Hurrican Sandy (or any other natural disaster this country has experienced).

Having grown up in the deep south, and understanding the deep seated roots of religious superiority or hatred of those who do not believe the way of the "norm" I can say what is needed is to stop blaming the "other" guy/girl and start to figure ways to solve the country's problems TOGETHER. We can all look at the issues and many agree as to the problems, but then we divide evenly and start blaming each other rtaher than figuring out how to work together.

instaed of just words, here is one simple thing American society can work on to "solve" the problem of unemployment and a too large military industrial complex:

Bring down troop levels in places such as Guam, the Philipines, and wherever the 200 plus bases are worldwide. Bring those troops home, and offer them work either in the military OR after leaving the military doing the sorts of things they are doing in other countries' but now do struturcal engineering, or creatig bio intensive farms to feed our people. The techies and construction workers/engineers can help rebuild our terribly out dated infrastructure. Then, since we will have to slim down the building of military tools such as tanks, planes, and ships; have those who work in those industries design and build the tools of the future, including, and most importantly designing sea walls to protect the 40% of our population who reside on both coasts. In the interior of the country, we need emergency response centers which would require many individuals of varying skills to ASSIST AMERICANS who find themselves in danger after an economic or environmental calamities.

I do not speak of "green jobs" or "alternative energy" since that would be included in the above responses, and since that seems to be some source of major disagrement between Americans. However, we will need to completely re think our energy supply and how we build housing and transportation in light of the future conditions we will be facing.

Democracy is dead ! As far as big money PACs they have way more money than sense.What is more worrisome is now foreign outside interests tried to buy the election to control our country.

a fool and his money are easily parted...

I don't see any articles harping on the fact that Florida refuses to declare the winner. It's a disgrace to those in Democratic districts that were forced to endure six hours in line in an attempt to suppress their vote not to have their voice heard that President Obama won Florida.

This refusal to announce President Obama the winner is just another attempt to disenfranchise these voters in the future and to make them feel that they do not count and will not count. We should be discussing this.

You might feel that it's not important because the election has already been decided but you are wrong. This is another tactic of voter suppression so these people will not turn out for the next election. It's deliberate and wrong.

Rule of Nines, that was the point of the article. The Super PACs had of all this money and spent all of this money and YET they STILL lost. The super-PACS spent $1.3 BILLION on the election (not including that spent by the candidates and their campaigns). Two-thirds of this was spent by conservative, pro-Republican super-PACS and it did nothing. The Republicans took a shellacking. They lost the Presidency, by a considerable margin, they not only failed to retake the Senate, but actually LOST two seats, and although they still held the House, the Democrats picked between 6-8 seats. All of the money that Karl Rove, Sheldon Adelson, and company spent and they failed to influence the national elections in any meaning way at all. Maybe they'll think twice about spending their money so recklessly in future election cycles.

piegan

Seven2seven- The name calling is childish on your part. I guess your Obama wasn't childish at his time right? With all the nasty accusations Obama made and the name calling that went with it during this election. 50% who voted for Obama get what they deserve like higher unemployment, higher gas and food prices. I also hope more companies lay off or cut people's hours.

WTF? You actually hope people lose their jobs? Utterly classless.

Vince - I agree that their money was spent in vain but it was spent wrong. They will figure it out next time and fire who ever they used to run useless ads on TV that nobody watches anymore.

Reason those PACS failed is their advertising which was over the top lies. Most people we interviewed said so and as some have stated here they knew the people who were supporting those vicious autlandish lies were the same people who were refusing to hire so Obama would be defeated. There was som serious backlash in this election and a huge amount of energized people who supported Obama because of it. Add to that the 47% issue and the crazy right wingers with thei rape comments and people ran from them. Best thing is in the next elections it is going to be very hard to get theis many big spenders to step up and donate money like these clowns did. 53 million and end up backing all losers? Shows you why just because you have a lot of money does not in anyway make you smart.

Greece's government voted by a razor thin margin on Thursday to approve an austerity package needed to unlock vital aid and avert bankruptcy, despite an internal rift and violent protests at the gates of parliament.

Do a lot of reading on Countries like Greece and Spain, you will need to know how exactly to make a good cocktail bomb when the government is forced to tell they have over promised and you will not be getting what you thought you voted for. But hey, I'm sure 90 billion dollars a year in extra tax revenue from the rich will have a huge impact on the 150 Trillion dollars in debt and unfunded liabilities we have. LOL

I mean a lot of countries find their way out of a 150 trillion dollar hole without major cuts. LOL

Fools!

The Republicans have a messaging problem???

A communication problem?????????????

Let's remember what Republicans blasted back when President Obama said that..........

IT'S YOUR POLICIES THAT ARE THE PROBLEM, REPUBLICANS.

Go ahead, double-down....we'll see what happens in 2014.

After spending a $billion on negative PAC ads, communication ain't the problem, folks.

And let's not re-litigate the election either...I hear (and see) that going on since the election. I hear the 47% are freeloaders again? Stop lying or you'll regret it.

YOU LOST. You are LOSERS! Live with it and start cooperating or you'll lose again in 2014.

Don't EVER try to push us around anymore. We play nice....until you pis* us off.

Candidates were not consevative enough? Michelle Bachman damn near lost her seat and she is so conservative that she is in the bat chit crazy section of the republican party. BTW stop calling them conservatives. They are not. They are right wingers

@LogicRequired - I think you should change your name to something different because it's logic you lack. Everything about your post is the reason why this country is in the condition it's in. Keep preaching what you posted and eventually others might believe that nonsense. With a mind set like that, it's no wonder the Republicans lost the election. And you guys have the audacity to spout the Dems blame everyone but themselves?!?! I think people need to be accountable for their own actions. Get real dude and get some common sense.

Don't fool yourselves - big money didn't lose the election, it was how it was spent. People are sick of the TV ads that tell you nothing and now-a-days they fast-forward thru them. Robo calls? I can't think of a better way to turn a person against a candidate. Without big money Obama would have won with a huge mandate. We STILL have to get big money out of politics.

Citizens United MUST go down!

Money is always a good thing, Obama had super pacs and rich donors, just as Romney did, no one gave a $h!t. There was no backlash, it is simple, Barack went after certain segments of the country and Romney went after certain segments and Obama got enough from his groups to out vote what Romney got from his groups. Republicans are now asking themselves how are they going to win over Hispanics and women in the next election because they will need more from those groups if they are going to win anything. My opinion is more hispanics and women will vote Republican next time not because of any message change but because the next four years will probably be riddled with complete failures just like the last four years have been and these groups will be ready for a change. Unless Democrats can get these dopes to believe Bush is still at fault 8 years later, Republoicans will win the next election not because they are smart but because liberal policies can always be trusted to fail.

Tuesday marked the first presidential election under the new campaign finance regime installed following the 2010 Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The right-wing packed Supreme Court's approval of Citizens United backfired.

Citizens United caused grass-roots citizens and organizations to organize and to re-elect President Obama to a 2nd term.

...no money cannot buy happiness, nor elections.

I only have one question, are they going to be able to write these "donations" off as business expenses or contributions. That would be really wrong to reward them for trying to buy the election.

What we narrowly averted (by almost 3 Million votes).

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/11/07/romneys_transition_site.html

I will keep this short, sweet and succinct, SUCK IT REPUBS....HAHAHAHA!!!!

And they'll deal with any $$ losses off through tax writeoffs. No big deal.

I doubt this will end big money in elections, though...

@LogicReguired

Bullying, Buying, & WAVING THEIR 1 % Cash around

Are you referring to the rich 1%'s Jay Z and Beyonce who held many upscale fund-raising events with other wealthy rappers, actors, and executives?

Yes they are the 1% who knows were they came from. They didn't want to give more tax cuts to their rich friends, they didn't want to eliminate social security, medicare & medicaid, plan parenthood, big bird, public schools, eliminate regulations, give more to big oil, eliminate pell grants and tell the poor to get a job. That's wasn't there agenda it was the GNOP/Tea baggers agenda, it was mittwitts agenda, it was faux noise agenda but it was not Jay-z's agenda.

If you don't know what you are talking about maybe you shouldn't talk or post at all.

Now deal with the AZZ Kicking the minority majority gave you on Tuesday. FOOL!

Adelson thought he could buy these people and he did... But he should have put his money on Americans that believe in he constitution a civil rights...

This just shows, tell me who your friends are and I'll tell yo what kind of person you are...

Everyone of them are A-moral..

To All the Rich People and Fox Noise who wanted to crush the middle class.

Kiss My AZZ you bunch of F-N loosers.

Nope, but illegal international money can sure buy an election. Why is there no investigation into the money obama received through his website from international donors?

So the layoffs started yesterday around the country, seeing businesses laying off people, heard on the radio this morning that a locally owned furniture store is closing it's doors.

You poor stupid liberals have no idea what you've done to us.

Personally I'm looking into handguns now to protect my family and myself from you leeches.

That community organizer KICK YOUR AZZ.

Up and down the United States, Up and Down.

Winner = Middle class and poor

Money bought my friend's vote. Make that ex-friend. His boss gave him $50 to vote for Romney and take a picture of his vote.

Really? A few months ago the liberals were screaming because corporations could give donations and would buy elections. Today they say money can't buy an election. They also fail to mention that Obama outspent Romney.

Yeah and money can't help you in court either. Who writes this stuff? Who believes it?

“Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Money can't buy an election? HaHa, is NBC trying to pretend the union payoffs were made? How many BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars were handed to them in the bailouts?

Money certainly buys elections... you just have to have access to the taxpayers wallets to snatch enough money to make it happen. No single man or small group can buy and election but an entire nation's taxdollars certainly can buy the votes of the ignorant and greedy.

@Piegan, Romney is a loser and the people spoke. Romney was smoked in the electoral vote. Romneys visions of less taxes for the rich, no abortions rights, raping the elderly, and FU to the Auto Industry, and his big mouth of 47% is why he was not elected.

No name calling, just the facts. Wishing ill on others is also a sign of a resentful loser. Typical old style GOP which is now DOA - Dead on Arrival..........

Well said Seven2Seven. Of course, the far right wingers can't accept it. First, their Golden Girl(Palin) spoke and proved what a nut-job she was, and Second, Romney opened his pie whole and sensible people realized he was also a nut-job. Face Facts Republicans, AMERICA SPOKE and OBAMA is STILL AMERICA'S PRESIDENT!!!!! You guys just have to Deal with that FACT!!!!

Comicnerd

This article seems one sided. From the statistics I see Obama raised $934M and spent $852.9M whereas Romney raised $881.8M and spent $752.3M. Wouldn't that make it seem like the one with/spent the most money won. So if I were to spin this story another way I could assume money DID buy the election based on who spent more. I think ALL the politicians are out of control, but it's the media that seems to get everyone riled up with these one sided stories.

This article was specifically about the top donors and what party they donated to. As was mentioned over the last few months, most of Obama's donations came from individuals and smaller donations, not in $10 million chunks. Just think, if all of these top donors would have used this money to hire people and/or increase wages, we might be in a better place economically. But wait, they can't possibly afford to hire anyone! And to expect them to is promoting Obama's socialist agenda!

Money was the only thing that won this election. Those who want more of it are jealous of the ones who already have it. The candidate who gave the most of it away naturally won.

Money can't buy happiness, or an election

....but media control can.

This situation with spending on the election is just an example of how the Republicans have dropped out of reality. I used to vote Republican, but in recent years they have become a disgrace. It is apparent that the separation they have allowed in classes is okay with them even though it is killing the country. It is amazing how they blocked the Democrats and White House during Obama's first term and then blamed him for the limited progress. Really? Take personal responsibility much?

How about the fact that after 8 years of Republican leadership we were in the worse economic times in history. Their expectation was that a magic wand be waved to cancel what they did and repair the damage. No acknowledge of basic economic theory where what goes up must come down, just any tactic necessary to attack the Democrats while hurting this country even more.

The reality for those that actually were awake during their economic classes, the presidency has limited power over the ups and downs of the economy. It is much larger than that. It will improve but not quickly.

The money the Republicans spent on their inconsistent platform and run is another example as to how they missed the boat. How about taking that time to work with the Democrats to improve the situation? Make yourselves a hero like Christie did out of sincerity? Instead they are so self absorbed that they cannot see the forrest through the trees.

I am not sure how the Republicans and their followers became the most aggressive and nasty group of people walking the earth, but that did not help them either. Everytime someone disagrees with them, a viscious attack occurs. Now all non-Republicans think that you have to be insane to be Republican.

This loss was created by the Republicans failure, not the Democrats success.

I do think that money can influence smaller local races. Prop 8 comes to mind, with it's huge influx of out-of-state money, as does Scott Walker in WI. Glad to hear that the nationals are a little harder to rig in favor of corrupt billionaires though. Sorry, Karl. :D

Oh yes, money CAN buy an election; now if we can just get rest of the people to stay home and not go to the voting booths, we'd be all set.

Pac money is trickle down economics.

Went to all the people that wrote the ads and the companies that printed or aired them. It is probably why employment went up in the last quarter. Which gave Obama a boost. So what they were trying to do backfired. LMFAO

I just wonder how a company with 50,000 employees can be categorized as a small business? How wait its owned by the KOCH BROTHERS it call Koch industries.

Yes! The Koch Brothers were mysteriously absent from this story.

Romney lost and Obama won but I'm confused how that makes me the loser? Yes the guy I supported lost, but I supported in hopes he would create more jobs (for others not me as I have a job) and get the government spending under control (again for others who are counting on these programs and need them but they are being run into bankruptcy). I fully admit I will probably be negatively affected by Obama's re-election, but since I'm part of the middle class that would mean all of you will probably be negatively affected as well. I hope Obama does succeed and is able to bring down our energy cost, cut of debt, create jobs, and get us better health care because I obviously would benefit from this as would you. I unfortunatly don't believe his policies will do any of these things which mean we all lose not just me. The winners and losers of an election are two fold, your guy won and you feel good as I would of if things were the other way around, but today my life and yours is no different then a couple of days ago (401k is a little smaller then before the election). The real test on who is the winner and the loser will be measured over the next four years. You say this is a victory for the middle class yet those same middle class people have had their lives get measurably (actual data to prove) worse over the last four years. Talk is cheap and a victory for the middle class should be seen with actual measurable data. You have successfully blamed the last four years on Bush, these next four years Obama will either make our lives better or things will stay the same or get worse. Obama's victory is truly only a win if he makes good on making things better, and for my own selfish reasons I hope he does, because of course I will benefit. If of course things do not get better we all lose and I and the rest of the country will be looking at Obama and his supporters to blame. Congrats on the win, but if you aren't prepared to work just as hard to get this economy going as you were in the election campaign then your victory will be nothing more then an election victory not a victory for the middle class.

Did NBC forget to check Massachusetts? Or did they just use data to support their point?

Wow. People on the left are really divisive and full of hatred, aren't they. Why did I see the one comment that showed that yes, money does buy elections, as Obama raised more and spent more than Romney, it gets collapsed? And the one person who said it should be "made very hard for someone to earn money". This is looking like stalinism all over again. Will the left also call it a glorious revolution when they imprison and kill all those who belong to a different party than they do? And to those who said the tax rate is the lowest for the highest earners are right, but it is also the lowest for the lowest earners as well. In the 50's, some of the lowest tax rates were above 20%, and at one time they poorest paid a 40% tax rate as well. There's been this massive call by some to confisicate the wealth of the rich, and to spread it around.

Why are so many people on here saying "america won, we did it, obama is for the people" when they themselves are proving they don't want to work with anyone. Their idea of working across the aisle is those across the aisle do what they want, or leave the country.

Logic,

most of this discourse is stemming from the Republicans unwillingness to return to a Ronald Reagan tax plan, because it will raise taxes. I just can not see how the Republican Party can make a pledge to Grover Norquist not to raise taxes. Making a pledge to a special interest group, that is just Un-American. Now I am a Democrat but I did vote for Reagan and WH Bush (Mr. Bush lost the 2nd time because he was smart enough to see he had to raise taxes, the Norquist republicans thought otherwise). Our country needs to do more work than just revamp the tax code, and that list is way to long for my one finger typing ass to list.

@no more filbert

I agree with you. Obama has been the WORST in terms of bipartisanship. His first two years in office with a Democrat Senate and House gave him the idea that he wouldn't have to work with the other side. He will have to learn fast or we are going to be in deep trouble.

RBKnows said:

Welcome to America - Home of the lazy, misimformed and naive.

If you don't like it here, feel free to leave, it is a free country.

The GOP spent a billion dollars or more on this election to spread its message of lies, hatred, and intolerance. Not surprisingly, America responded by roundly rejecting the Republicans' failed ideology. In order to restore some measure of its former credibility, the Republican Party must scrape off the right wing lunatic fringe with whom it has unadvisedly aligned itself and return to a more moderate political position where the majority of normal Americans dwell. The crackpots, crazies, and kooks of the GOP/TP who rant and rave about god's will when it comes to rape are shooting much too far to the right of the mark for the vast majority voters. The American people are looking for reasonable, responsible leadership in opposition to the insane right wing nonsense the Republican Party has feebly promoted over the last few years.

Listen to America, GOP! Come back to the centrist politics of Reagan, Eisenhower, Baker, Dole, and Dirksen and unload the asylum of right wing lunatics that have attached themselves to your party like leeches! It may not yet be too late!

Yes! The Koch Brothers were mysteriously absent from this story.

That's because they are small potatoes. You would never get the media to print the big players, namely Bilderberg. What? Never heard of them, you say? My point exactly.

They could have just paid taxes...

Money was the only thing that won this election. Those who want more of it are jealous of the ones who already have it. The candidate who gave the most of it away naturally won.

This is absolutely true. Obama's reduction of tax rates for the middle class was an important part of the stimulus. That helped the economy which allowed voter confidence to return enough to vote him into office.

The pundits keep saying this is extraordinary because no President gets elected with near-8% unemployment. What they seem unable to understand is that Americans are not stupid. We understand where we were due to the Bush/Romney policies and we understand that Obama is taking us into the right direction.

@joe,

Haven’t you
figured it out yet... Fox news and the Right media have been lying to you. Over
the last 3 years the Republican Party has had the attitude of our way or the
highway. They have been being led by a special interest group run by Grover
Norquist.

You have been
the victim of Coercive Persuasion

To impose a set of usually political or religious beliefs on
somebody by the use of various coercive methods of indoctrination, including
destruction of the victim's prior beliefs condition somebody to
behave differently or increasing slight beliefs or fears: to
induce somebody to believe or do something, e.g. to buy a new product,
especially by means of constant repetition or advertising.

The tactics that
the right wing are using were perfected by the Soviet Union. If it is repeated
enough time's you will begin to repeat it as fact. Here is how they do it... Have you ever heard the
right media say "there was a study done" (but no reference to who did
the study) "we heard several people say", "people have
said", "Someone heard" and continually repeat the same thing
time and time again as fact even though it's not?

Here is an example "The liberal media has taken over". Here are
the facts about the take over. I will use network TV as an example. This list is not even a complete list.

100% owned by FOX

Phoenix- KSAZ-TV ++ 10 (10) and KUTP-45 (26)

Los Angeles-KTTV 11 (11) KCOP -13 (13) KTLA 5 (5)

Washington,D.C.-WTTG 5 (36), WDCA 20 (35)

Ocala - Gainesville, FLWOGX 51 (31)

Orlando -Daytona Beach WOFL 35 (22) WRBW 65 (41)

Tampa - St. Petersburg WTVT 13 (12)

Atlanta WAGA-TV 5 (27)

Chicago WFLD-TV 32 (31)

Gary, Indiana WPWR-TV 50 (51)

Baltimore WUTB 24 (41)

Boston WFXT 25(31)

Detroit WJBK-TV 2 (7)

Minneapolis -St. Paul KMSP-TV 9 (9) WFTC 29 (29)

Secaucus, New Jersey WWOR-TV 9 (38)

New York City WNYW 5 (44)

Philadelphia WTXF-TV 29 (42)

Memphis WHBQ-TV13 (13)

Austin, Texas KTBC-TV 7 (7)

Dallas - Fort Worth KDFW-TV 4 (35)KDFI-TV 27 (36)

Houston KRIV 26(26)KTXH 20 (19)

Partially owned by FOX and FOX affiliates

Birmingham - Tuscaloosa– Anniston WBRC-TV 6 (50)

San Francisco - Oakland - San Jose KBHK-TV (now KBCW) 44 (45)

Denver KDVR 31 (32)

Fort Collins, Colorado KFCT (KDVR) 22 (21)

Atlanta WATL-TV 36 (25)

Boston WCVB-TV 15 (20)

Kansas City, Missouri WDAF-TV 4 (34)

St. Louis KTVI 2 (43)

High Point - Greensboro-Winston-Salem, N.C. WGHP 8 (35)

Cleveland – Akron WJW-TV 8 (8)

Portland, Oregon KPTV 12 (12)

Dallas - Fort Worth KDAF 33 (32)

San Antonio KMOL-TV (now WOAI-TV) 4 (48)

Salt Lake City KSTU13 (28) KTVX 4 (40)

Milwaukee WITI-TV 6 (33)

As can see its quite a list all Owned by or partially owned by 1 man Rupert Murdock. Here is just an example in California we have 7 network TV stations 3 of them are wholly owned by FOX ; 13, 11 and 5 .. 3 out of 7 check how many are owned in your city now remember that lots of these stations have sister stations that are not on the list but you can easily find out.

Now lets talk about radio. You now know who Bain Capital (Romney’s Baby) is right? Did you know he still owns 51% of the company? This is called a controlling share.

Bain Capital owns Clear Channel which owns 866 radio stations and Premiere Radio Networks, a national radionetwork that serves nearly 5,800 radio station affiliates and has over 213 million weekly listeners. Programs include the Rush Limbaugh Show, Glenn Beck and the Sean Hannity Show.

That is a ton of radio stations all saying the same thing and all owned
by 1 company. So as you can see Rush, Glen Beck, Hannity and many, many more
right wing talk show hosts are on the republican pay roll.

I won't even get started on Murdock's 27 cable stations in the us or the massive amount of paper media or web media he owns in the US. But hopefully you get my point

By Eugene Robinson

The GOP and Mitt Romney ran a campaign designed to capture a huge share of a shrinking segment of the electorate: white men. Sorry to be so blunt, but that’s the demographic Republicans tried to capture, with their incessant talk of “taking the country back” and their long-running attempt to portray Obama as somehow alien and threatening.

They not only failed to unseat an incumbent saddled with an anemic economy, painfully high unemployment and sagging approval ratings — an incumbent who should have been beatable. They also managed to blow a golden opportunity to take control of the Senate and in fact actually lost seats in a year when that hardly seemed possible. Quite an achievement.

Republicans said in recent days that they sensed an electoral wave that would sweep the party to victory. But they were listening to each other, not to the rest of America. They didn’t hear the African Americans who make up 13 percent of the electorate or the Latinos who constitute 10 percent. They didn’t listen to women, who hold up half the sky. They ran a campaign that would have been perfectly appropriate for the 1950s, but that was an anachronism — and a failure — in 2012.

Republicans threw away their opportunity in the Senate by nominating candidates, such as Todd Akin in Missouri, whose views are extreme and frightening. They appealed to anxiety about the demographic and social changes taking place in America, without realizing that the newcomers and outsiders they tried so hard to demonize were — inconveniently — paying attention. They couldn’t imagine that the black and brown people who turned out to vote in such numbers four years ago would find their way to the polls yet again. And even wait in line.

Note to the GOP: It’s our country, too. And no, you can’t have it back. We all have to share.

Um, Tired-2176559 (#1.13) - if you're going to suggest to someone repeatedly that their stupidity exceeds a threshold at which they are capable of understanding something, you might want to go with "you're TOO stupid" rather than "you're TO stupid". Because ya see, the way you've written it makes you look, well, stupid.

You're probably one of those that habitually misuses the terms 'irony' and 'ironic'. So for future reference, telling someone "you're to stupid" is a GREAT example of irony.

If you need me to explain further, I can give you a call. It seems we all know your phone number.

COR-I don't see any articles harping on the fact that Florida refuses to declare the winner. It's a disgrace to those in Democratic districts that were forced to endure six hours in line in an attempt to suppress their vote not to have their voice heard that President Obama won Florida.

Your right there. The Florida Republicans ran the dirtiest game in this election.If the people of Florida can stomach another trip to the polls. In the next statewide elections they need to clean out the Scott machine and rid Florida of that trash. There needs to be major pay-back in that state.Then they need to set up a non-partisan electoral commission to make sure what happened there during this election never happens again.

How many of you democrates would come back to this thread bt/w now and a year and report when you get laid off?

FZknew

instaed of just words, here is one simple thing American society can work on to "solve" the problem of unemployment and a too large military industrial complex:

just promise you will be first in line, take a bullet for me, when this country needs soldiers...

if not, then stand aside and let those that will do their job DO IT- without your meaningless view of our national security. May i suggest a safe place like Ajo, Az, Nogales, Az, or anywhere along the Texas/Mexico boarder

If Obama spent one single penny that resulted in a vote for him....YES!!!!!!!! ELECTIONS ARE BOUGHT

why is my country so dumb...so blind...

I admit, I have spent the last two days in total sorrow over the election, I didn't vote for either Romney or Obama...I don't believe them.......I struggle to make ends meet, lost my job two years into Obama and he/my state wont even consider me for welfare/ healthcare...I gained nothing. I lost everything this week: my home, my car was finally pulled over for tags that I cant afford to have my car fixed, I have no food...and my family, well they are dems, so they dont invite others in need to leach off of their welfare benefits...they can barely make it without me being invasive and ask for a meal....

I fear democratic citizens because (i believe dems are lower/middle class with some 1%'ers) that they have so little to begin with, they can only exist to take....which means those without now, will be trampled by the more eager next round of economic victims....that means I will be gone from your sights and forgotten along with the 47 million in my group....

how can I have faith that before it happens again, we can recover? The republican party offers a lot in jobs and business, but you all want them to leave our country and make it solely democratic...leaving republican citizens at the mercy of a country that hates them...yes, I fear what will happen to me, by you, when you have nothing and have to fight for a single meal....how many rounds of lay-offs can we go through before we start freaking out and acting on it???????????that question alone is probably closer to me than you, since Ive been homeless for a little over a weak now...but how far is my situation from yours?

does this happen every election or it this really happening now: I get this sense that anyone not aligned with the winner is being shown the door....being asked to leave the USA quietly, not by Washington, but the "winning" citizens of this country???????? scary...maybe im being too worried but it seems 1 in 3 dem posts are requesting that 50% of the nation leave or else

road - How many of you democrats would come back to this thread bt/w now and a year and report when you get laid off?

They are already laid off. That's why they're on this thread - unless they're goofing off at work, a no-no.

Just to refresh your memory a little………President Obama has spent $ 852 mill and M. Romney $752.3 mill. So one could conclude that yes, money can influence an election outcome and in most cases it does!!

A good president should only need a fraction of this amount on re-election; people would vote for him automatically! Do I need to say more??

All anyone needs to do is take a very long hard indepth look at where this country
has fallen.

In nearly every city across this nation, stores once regularly shopped now sit empty.

They can attempt to blame the workers, but those spoken of in this article have been
the problem for quite some time. Their bottom line is NOT the health of this country.
Their lack of patriotic respect for fellow citizens has taken them to levels of riches
beyond most everyone's belief.

Capitolism isnt' dead, it has merely been high jacked by the individuals and groups
who have utilized their income growth to over power most every market.

For now, hopefully, their increasing control-takeover has been put on hold. Pay close
attention to these law makers in our very near future as they will most assuredly
continue to force everthing to go their own way - more cash in their own pockets.

Captiolism is about - making it to the top. It is NOT about forcing everyone else
to keep to the bottom wrungs of the ladder. Just open your own business ( or attempt
to today... ) and see just how fast your local/state/fed come after you - before the
year is out.

Local government, state government and federal government stick their fingers into
our pockets every possible chance they get. They vote THEMSELVES raises, then
continue their verbal public plight of needing more for the city/state/country.

THEY PUT LOTTERY IN PLACE TO BOLSTER SCHOOL FINANCES - and still they push
local citizens to accept millages/taxation or threaten sports and other programs to
be cancelled.

Their paychecks are exceptional - even if they themselves feel it still not to be enough.
Majority of citizens earn one-third to merely half what they each are being paid.

AND THIS CONTINUES.

Want to kill a DEFECIT? ( I truly need not explain this further ).

They take what we earn, then keep asking for more. When and where does it stop?

In every househould across this nation ( including government house at all levels.. )
Balancing a budget is extremely easy... when you quit spending more than what is earned.

The next election, if not stopped now, will go like this.....because of lessons from this election:

Republicans will carefully hire employees that will support their agenda or completely move to china, leaving massive amounts of people out of work...voters unable to see or get to a computer to watch commercials and ads, the democrats will be forced to capture voters via a "fire-sale" on health-care, welfare, UI benefits....but will come to a halt when China says No More Money your broke and we coming for you assets. Jobs will then start tickling down to people willing to side politically with the company they work for....

We just created a country where your job cast your vote for you, if you have one...just like your insurance plan.

mozzie-600 :) it really stinks being laid off...

Well said Seven2Seven. Of course, the far right wingers can't accept it. First, their Golden Girl(Palin) spoke and proved what a nut-job she was, and Second, Romney opened his pie whole and sensible people realized he was also a nut-job. Face Facts Republicans, AMERICA SPOKE and OBAMA is STILL AMERICA'S PRESIDENT!!!!! You guys just have to Deal with that FACT!!!!

And he will be a lame duck for the next four years. The GOP in Congress will see to that.

Im so HUNGRY!!! I promise to stop with the doomsday stuff when I can eat and pay my bills....all I want is a job....

It's easy to say that all we have to do is stop spending more than we make. That is, after all, how we balance our own budgets at home, right? So everybody asks: "why is that so hard to understand?"

The problem is that balancing the budget is only one part of the issue. At home, if my income is high enough, then the issue is solved, because I don't need to grow. If I'm a start-up company, and my only goal is to balance the budget, I will go out of business very quickly. Why? Because I need to invest to grow. If I'm only pulling $50,000 in revenue, it would be easy but fatal to spend within my means, rather than borrowing money to invest in an expansion which would increase my revenue. Same with the country, and in fact, with all countries. Factoring in population growth alone, any economy which is not growing is really declining. So I would like to ask: Why is that so hard to understand?

Economic theorists all understand the need to invest in growth. The only question is where to put the investment. The top-down guys think we need to invest in the wealthy, on the belief that the investment will pay off in increased job-creation and therefore increased revenue. If we look at the REAL numbers in the REAL world, we will find that there is no indication that our investments in the wealthy (the recent attempts which increased our debt dramatically) has paid off. And in fact, a recent report by the congressional research services indicates no historical correlation between lower tax rates for the wealthy and economic growth.

The middle-out guys think we need to invest in opportunity for the middle class to either start businesses, or to qualify for the jobs that exist. The 'golden era' of the '30's to the '70's (ending with Reagan), which created a huge middle class and sustained economic growth without boom and bust fluctuations in the market, indicates the real potential of that investment model for economic growth. That's the path America chose two days ago, it is the better, safer, proven path, and for all our sakes - republicans too - I hope we can make real strides in that direction now.

Right on Starderup for the second part of your comment.

But money does buy elections, not votes. Now Romney is probably the only modern American politician that is dumber than Bush II and he shows it whenever he opens his trap. He might not have won the elections but do not forget more than 45% of the electorate voted for him. If he was a little more smart, Adelson the Las Vegas pimp will have a Mormon as his bitch in the white house.

You are right because without that money Romney would have seen a defeat by a landslide. He spent all of his time whining about how bad Obama was and never gave anyone a clue as to what his policies were. He claimed to have been a successful governor of MASS and bipartisan! Look at this a quick check shows. He entered office with a 67% approval rating and left with a 33% approval rating. failed to run for reelection because the nuber showed he would be defeated Ran for the Senate got defeated after spendin 7 million of his own money! Bipartisan? In his years as Governor he vetoed over 800 bills that reached his desk and only three of those vetos wer held up by the house and senate there. Thats bipartisan? Bad candidates lose elections no matter how much money is spent. Money can win elections or Bush would have never entered the WH.

@breadex - Agreed, and he absolutely got his @ss kicked in Massachusetts. That alone should tell people how destructive he would have been for the whole country.

One of my family members sent $3 donations to OFA whenever she could, as extra money has been in short supply. As a percentage, she gave up a lot more and expected a lot less than the billionaires wanting a significant long-term ROI from their candidates.

"We, the people" elected O and Joe, much to the arrogant dismay of these PAC contributors.

It is very satisfying to realize that we beat the "fat cats" with our $3 donations.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot...

@realDonaldTrump - You can't buy my elections or my privacy with your stinking money.

The GOP supports socialism and welfare for the rich.

Yah like GE, Microsoft and Dupont didn't and won't be paid hansomly from this election, Libs are just hippocrits, they voted for the same things they claim to be against......all just BS'ers!

pop!pop!pop!pop!pop!pop!.....Still hearing them

I'm proud of the American people and their rejection of the superpac lie campaign against President Obama.

Still, we must over-turn the Citizens United decisions. They cannot stand.

@skip - Obama now will have the opportunity to appoint 1, maybe 2 Supreme Court justices. We'll see if it stands. I think not. It is a major threat to our political system.

Money can't buy an election? HaHa, is NBC trying to pretend the union payoffs were made? How many BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars were handed to them in the bailouts?

Money certainly buys elections... you just have to have access to the taxpayers wallets to snatch enough money to make it happen. No single man or small group can buy and election but an entire nation's taxdollars certainly can buy the votes of the ignorant and greedy.

Another myth perpetuated by the left: rich get more loopholes.

Our tax code has far more deductions to lower earners, and they phase out the more you make, typically around 90k to 150k, but that's a fraction of a billion.

Loopholes? The Fed taxes income, not assets. Billionaires have mansions, cars, trust funds, and stock grants. Until they sell anything there is only federal taxation on interest. They pay state/local property tax, but no one ever talks about that.

Also, all the rants about tax rates paid by the rich. Laughable. Try going with gross dollars and your eyes will open. But in any case, as you like to make your arguments you use percentage. No one pays a tax rate that is their marginal tax rate. The marginal tax rate is the rate charged on the highest income that falls into that upper band. The lower bands of income are still taxed on their respective percents so the overall rate is far less than the marginal tax rate. Explaining it in a conversation has calmed down everyone I've met who goes nuts about tax rates by the rich since they are used to the ad bytes that are designed to make it extreme.

It was funny hearing Trumps tantrum. He really believes people cares what he thinks.

yes this guy ( trump ) is some where in left field . somuch time on his hands with nothing better to do.

I truly hope that Trump and others like him close the doors to EVERY company they own and put you libs out into the unemployment line to collect NOTHING, cause the gov and small businesses WON'T be paying your bills.....hahahaha ......a man can dream can't he.

For every idiot business owner that turns his back on profits, there are 10 guys like me ready to swoop in and take that business away from them. My profits are at all time highs the past 3 years.

Gee "RBKnows", you sound like some sort of economic traitor.

Let Trump and the other Oligarchs close their businesses, we have no shortage of people willing and able to step into the minute hole they would leave. If it weren't for these douche bags being born with silver spoons in their mouths, they'd be working stiffs just like the rest of us.

As my father used to say: "If you want to see how much you'll be missed put your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out again."

RBknows

I truly hope that Trump and others like him close the doors to EVERY company they own and put you libs out into the unemployment line to collect NOTHING, cause the gov and small businesses WON'T be paying your bills.....hahahaha ......a man can dream can't he.

You actually hope people lose their jobs out of pure vindictiveness? You are a clown my friend. Red nose and all.

Thank god your ilk is fading away - no need for vengeful idiots anymore.

He is in the ignore button section. But thats the way they are brainwashed into thinking. Social security is not an entitlement because it is funded by the people participating in it.

LOL RB hopes all the shills that would actually work for a loon like Trump lose their jobs. RB is wishing unemployment on himself. The republicans just can't manage to stop screwing themselves. I love it! Let's try and suppress the vote. Yea, that worked well. Let's get rid of the Ohio law that would allow Mitt the twitt to contest the results. Yea, that worked well too. Let's get Paul Ryan on the ticket so we can win Wisconsin. Epic fail. Let's have our billionaire buddies throw tons of cash behind every single failed primary candidate. Yep, you guys are batting a thousand. LMAO

Mr.Steady,

You are apparently a Rhodes scholar and deep thinker,get over it,these chumps couldn't buy the election and now its sour grapes,too bad.There is always 2016 so you have four more years to stew about it.You and that other mamas boy Ryan can go home and cry about it,meanwhile,I will take great joy in reading posts like yours from othr sore losers like yourself.

Well done, Sir! I couldn't have said it better! Republican Tears taste sweet! ;)

No...Mr. Steady. This time we didn't have our heads up our a$$es, and it wasn't money or the lack of it. It had EVERYTHING to do with the candidates and the thickly veiled Republican agendas.

Mitt vascillated on his own platforms so many times...who on G-d's green earth could know what this man stood for? It was insulting to our intelligence to see him say one thing one day...then say something completely different the next, deny he said it, and expect us to believe it, especially when we had it all on tape.

Republicans...the party of "smaller" government. REALLY?!?! Truth be told, all most of us, especially women...saw an over- reach of the government. When a Republican says one thing...but lobby's so vehemently for the opposite...we can SEE the disconnect. Why did we lose half of the Senators? Because they wanted to subjugate women is the most intimate manner possible, and we won't put up with that. That's NOT smaller government...that's fascism.

75% of funding for this election cycle went to Republican candidates...20% to Obama and 5% to Independant candidates. For all that money, the truth could not be concealed. We know who President Obama is, and what he has done, and what he has tried to do for the betterment of this country, and we also saw how the Republican party blocked every single thing he tried to do to get jobs, rebuild our deteriorating infrastructure, protect our elderly from another market wipout of their retirement (via privatization of social security) etc, etc...

No way any amount of money could have bought this election, because the American people are not as stupid as the GOP was hoping they were......

A half-billion dollars spent by these haters of democracy? A half billion spent to undermine a constitution?

And it failed. Miserably. What more could a freedom-loving, America-supporting patriot hope for? This is almost as sweet as Obama's deserved win over the sociopath, R'Money.

Consider . . . most of this money was handed over to the "lame-stream" media to support losers. Love it. Liberals media made money, rats lost it. Love it.

bill - "Liberals media made money"

Well at least you understand that the U.S. media is pathetically biased and skewed.

P.S.

Doesn't making money make them evil and racist? or is that only for people you are jealous of?

Do you think they actually care about the money they spent? Notice how none of them have said anything about it? It is simply a cost of doing business to them.

Rich people can take their money and retire to countries were success is still apreciated anytime they want to, you however are stuck here to watch the nation continue to spiral downward. Obama's retention on America's presidency means little to them now, it is the future lost profits from a collapsed America that they hoped to avert... but the liberals showed them.

To be honest, neither party is about reducing spending overall. They're about reductions to specific areas of spending. For example, you'll never see Republicans cut military budgets which are enormous right now and you'll never see Democrats reduce medicare/medicaid. Also, ending the polarization will require both sides to cooperate and make compromises. That is currently frowned upon by extremist elements which often go out and vote during midterm elections.

Yet you have no problem with spending with less revenue by republicans. Reagan doubled our debt and Bush tripled it. Romney's plan to spend 200 billion more on the military and hundreds of billions on a new space program not even counting cutting revenue 5 trillion would be far more money spent than anything Obama proposes. If you were a true fiscal conservative you'd appreciate a president that raised money to pay for programs he implements rather than just increases the debt. Just because republicans lower taxes the same time they spend, spend, spend doesn't mean eventually it doesn't have to be paid for.

caribeanslim, you sound like reasonable person and you wish our country well even know you
did not vote for President Obama; too bad that most of the republicans in USA Congress do not subscribe to the same. I guarantee you that they will make Presidents job impossible not because they would believe that what he will try to accomplish would be good or bad for the country, but simply they will play politics regardless who will they hurt in the process. “Tax and spent policies” are OK with me as long that rich share the burden and as long the money are used to improve working people’s lives instead of being spent on wars. Don’t forget that nearly trillion dollars is appropriated for military and big chunk of that is going to Military Industrial Complex. We are spending money to maintain military bases around the world and to what end? Why we need military bases in Japan for example? Especially when Japanese citizens are dead set against US being there. So we do not mind that billions of our tax money is spent on completely useless endeavors, yet we complain that government is helping perhaps with measly 53 million to improve lives of some elderly. I just can’t figure the rich and the people who vote for them.

Carib, your concerns are valid. However, both parties will gladly spend money on their preferred projects. It is just how they do it. The quote below reminded me of how many "fiscal conservative" states spent millions on reducing early voting days, voter ID, litigation, etc.

Ricketts' super PAC, Ending Spending Action Fund, spent an additional $9.9 million helping Romney's failed bid

Spending to end spending? I was really left with the feeling that the republican party was using spending as a slogan but was doing the opposite. If the election, both parties, can raise 2 Billion it makes me question the real situation of our economy.

We need less talk and more results.

I guess that's what I'm hoping for too ,,,"Less talk from both sides of the isle and more results"

Good point ,,,when both parties can raise 2Billion , then that also makes me think twice about the economic situation in our country ???

OK , I hope for the best for all americans and to be honest ,,,I really don't favor either side (democrats or republicans ) ,,,,,I believe both sides are slanted towards their own special agendas .

Let's hope we get closer together on issues as americans

doggysaywhatTo be honest, neither party is about reducing spending overall. They're about reductions to specific areas of spending. For example, you'll never see Republicans cut military budgets which are enormous right now and you'll never see Democrats reduce medicare/medicaid.

I dont think you'll see a repub mess with medicare either though since old people vote in force and would see them thrown right back out of office. they know its political suicide.

It is my hope that after this election, the republican party will re-evaluate and kick out all the extremists who have hijacked their party, and return to being more moderate (though I'm guessing that this will take a while, and by the time it is accomplished, the democrats will have been unchecked for several elections and will be overrun by crazies on the other side, and I'll be voting Republican for the same reasons I voted Democrat this time). And that the two parties can see enough sense to realize they have to work together rather than make everything about sabotaging the other side.

For Mike, good point regarding medicare. It's a touchy issue for both parties due to the large voting blocks.

Since when are donations and contributions payed back? When you buy a lottery ticket do you expect the state to refund your money when you don't win?

The only money that should be paid back is the massive payoffs made to the unions, that money was collected from the citizens not donated.

Democrats had 6 times the number of under $20 donations as republicans. Most republican money was raised by these rich fat cats trying to buy tax policy that benefited themselves. America's not for sale.

Its not a waste they won!

what? are you a cuban supporter of failed romney?

You have lost your mind, you need to look in the mirror, what have the republicans done for you lately. You may look like them, but ask yourself how they really look at you Fidel

So if $3B is spent and you win all's fine and the point of this article is only if you lose?

Larry - America is very for sale; ask the Chinese.

On the nose there, Larry. The "Moral Majority" is exactly the opposite. Their antiquated views on American life are not shared by the vast majority of voters. Their belief that their beliefs should be forced on the rest of us because what they believe in is the final word is what cost them the election. And the Republicans bending over and kissing the ultra right wing conservative butts didn't help. The majority of Americans are progressive and moderate to left leaning. Obama's re-election proved that.

Larry Post No 12. I fully agree and when the Republicans stop allowing the tail (Tea Party) to wag the dog, they may start winning. They are no different than the Taliban and because they are homegrown are a threat to the rights of any American that believes in personal rights, liberties and responsibilities. They came into office with an agenda to hamper any compromises, and their little Manifesto turned the Republican party into the party of no. Both sides of the isle need to learn to negotiate and compromise, no one side will ever get 100 percent of what they want. America will continue to slide, until we start voting the idiots out on both sides of the isle.

We're not buying the agenda because no right-wing candidate and explain it properly. And we're not voting right because there's just no care for them to honestly reach out to anyone not-white or male.

All the rant against the Tea Party but Moveon.org never takes it's own advice. It's as singly-purposed as the Tea Party.

Lol, what now? Racist HILLBILLY? Who da racist?

Great post Truman !!! Absolutely correct. The right-wing nutjob Christian whacko redneck crowd are nothing but haters and would be praising the job the President was doing if he were white! It's disgusting...

You mean the nearly 50M who didn't vote for Obama?

I admit that idiot in Ohio is in fact an idiot, but let's not paint 50M people with one broad brush.

Funny that after Sandy hit Romney didn't mention his plan to eliminate FEMA. I wonder why?

Not very smart investors.

To me, the election shows that doing things that help people is the best investment after all

what happens when the $$$ from taxes stops coming into Washington? Where will all your free money come from...can you say "homeless shelter"?

Poor little RBknows-Her butt is still swollen after the pounding she took Tuesday, and she just can't seem to get her panties out of the wad they are in. But don't worry honey, there is always 2016! But please continue on your rants, as the news is pretty slow today, and we can all use a laugh from you tin-foil hat types. What's that term they use for your type...............oh yea, SORE LOSER!!! Waaaaaaaaaaa!

Aswad - "Would have done more good to spend all of that money helping those affected by Hurricane Sandy"

And Obama could have taken $5 million of Trumps money and handed it to Sandy victims or any other charity of his choosing simply by releasing his college transcript... but his grades are more important to him than all the suffering it would have alleviated. The is the man you actually believe "cares about me".

Funny the article only points to Republicans (one Dem?) and the races they lost. I suspect there are far more elections that were bought than they care to admit.

So you admit that Obama will use taxpayer money to repay HIS contributors? If not didn't every contributor to every campaign just CONTRIBUTE their money?

You being a liberal it easy to see why you perceive the U.S. presidency as something that is supposed to pay you.

Wow, that's intelligent and unbiased. You do your party proud.

Exactly why the incumbent barely eked out 50% of the vote.

Says more about that witch in SW CT (Linda McMahon) who spent $91M of her own money in last 2 cycles and lost both. Badly.

#17.1- Once the votes are 100% tallied, it will show incumbent Obama received a higher percentage of the popular vote than incumbent GW Bush did in 2004 (when he claimed a "mandate"):

FROM: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/08/1158778/-What-Is-Obama-s-Popular-Vote-Margin-Center-Right-Country-Really

After losing the 2000 popular vote contest to Gore, in 2004 Bush II beat Kerry in the popular vote by about 2.5%, 62,040,610 to 59,028,444 or a margin of 3,012,166 votes. This was the smallest popular vote margin by which a sitting President had won re-election

The latest national numbers I can find this morning have Obama up by 2.3%, 50.4% to 48.1% or 60,662,601 to 57,821,399, or a margin of 2,841,202. but according to CNN.com, many states still have significant votes waiting to be counted

ACCORDING TO THE ARTICLE WHEN ALL THE VOTES ARE COUNTED: the final tally will be:

assuming all the other outstanding votes from small, even and/or mostly counted states even out, Obama's margin would be 2,841,202 + 267,036 + 378681 + 829,115 = 4,316,034.

I'm sure all that money spent at least created some temporary jobs. More so than the offshore accounts where it normally resides. Let them spend trying to sell their self serving crap as long as it creates jobs. Maybe eventually they'll learn no matter how often you say it getting the black man out of the whitehouse isn't enough you actually need a plan that you're prepared to explain. No Mitt, we didn't trust you.

There are lots of rich democrats. The difference is under Obama they'll pay more in taxes and want to do more for the country while Romney's plans were probably written by the people funding his PACs. That's probably the difference between democrats and republicans. There's a point democrats say we have enough and want to do what's best for the country. Remember the Buffet rule? Republicans can never have enough. Under Ryans budget plan Romney would have paid 0.83% in 2010 on 23 million dollars the same $177,000 as someone making $600,000. That's not right.

Under Paul Ryan's plan, Mitt Romney wouldn't pay any taxes for the next ten years -- or any of the years after that. Now, do I know that that's true. Yes, I'm certain.

Well, maybe not quite nothing. In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

But what about corporate taxes? Aren't they a double tax on savings and investment, so Romney's "real" rate is higher than his headline rate? No. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, Romney has structured his investments as "pass-throughs" that avoid corporate tax. In other words, the 0.82 percent tax rate is really a 0.82 percent tax rate.

Sheldon Adelson or Romney/Ryan = D*uchebags. Nuff said.........

Hey Larry, your last name is "Nuff said", you D*ck!!

And Obama could have taken $5 million of Trumps money and handed it to Sandy victims or any other charity of his choosing simply by releasing his college transcript... but his grades are more important to him than all the suffering it would have alleviated. The is the man you actually believe "cares about me".

No, pj. That would have been extortion, no matter how humanitarianly you attempt to disguise it. One does not kowtow to a petty bully.

Absolutely, leeches don't vote for people who expect self-sufficiency and contribution to society. And Obama only got an additional 3% of the vote!

You missed the point. If a candidate sees roughly half of the electorate as "leeches", and verbalizes this to his rich donor friends, it's kinda hard for people to like or respect him. Romney needed some sensitivity training. He needs to learn the lessons that Ebinezer Scrooge learned in A Christmas Story.

Termlimits: You're right that Romney is far more moderate and would have been a good president if he actually had a say but he didn't and wouldn't have had one. To win the nomination he had embrace the tea party and he never would have opposed what they demanded if elected. Below is from a speech by Grover Norquist on Romney.

The most quoted speech at CPAC this year was Mitt Romney's, but my vote for the most significant goes to Grover Norquist's. In his charmingly blunt way, Norquist articulated out loud a case for Mitt Romney that you hear only whispered by other major conservative leaders.

They have reconciled themselves to a Romney candidacy because they see Romney as essentially a weak and passive president who will concede leadership to congressional conservatives:

All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don't need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.

The requirement for president?

Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared

Larry

The election was Tuesday, and if you think that President does not meet the requirement and all your GOP and tea party members have done your homework, and the only thing requirement that they made up about him was his birth certificate dummy Hawaii is a state regardless of where your parents was born shows that they need to quit selecting whiter than white candidates, and guess what the requirement is no longer needed in this day and age. Sore loser the AMERICAN people have voted and spoken

You somehow believe that individuals throwing millions at politicians is different than the president throwing BILLIONS at unions, illegals, welfare recipients, etc...? The only difference is that those not in office spend their own money, those in office spend you and your children's money.

P.S.

Speaking of "expecting massive financial gain", one day into his new term and Mexico is demanding payback:

Latino groups to Obama: You owe Latinos the election, now pass immigration reform

"Leaders of immigrant rights and Latino groups told reporters in a conference call on Wednesday that Obama owes his second term to Latino voters, and should repay them by passing comprehensive immigration reform. Obama promised to pass a law legalizing many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country while he campaigned four years ago, and he's been chastised by Latino leaders for breaking his promise."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/latino-groups-obama-owe-latinos-election-now-pass-194113601--election.html

Imagine that, race-based groups telling the President he owes them... the respect for his "leadership" is clearly immense. (sarcasm)

Obama promised that to them in first term but ended up having other little details to deal with. He has stated it is something he will accomplish this term. It is a very important issue and has to be dealt with once and for all.

pjam, if you genuinely cannot differentiate between being obliged to do meaningful things for large groups of people who vote for you and being beholden to one man who wrote your campaign a $50 million check, then there is truly no hope for you.

Immigration reform is something BOTH parties have (at times) been very vocal about passing, so let's not pretend this is remotely in the same category as a crusty old billionaire calling you on the private White House line asking for favors in exchange for those millions in campaign donations.

Enjoy the next four years. And probably the next 40, as well, because unless the GOP undergoes a dramatic change, I doubt we'll see another Republican president for a very long time.

Don't expect a reply from pjam anytime soon, Think. He's choking on those sour grapes he's been gobbling down since the election.