Senator Tester, on NPR’s All Things Considered, today:
“Well, I think corporations are a whole lot different than people. I don’t know corporations that can be put in prison. I do know people that can be put in prison. I mean, it’s a totally different entity. I don’t think the forefathers envisioned when this country was setup that we would have corporations that had the same rights or more rights than people…
“It’s ridiculous and it’s not what our forefathers sought and it really goes against our democracy. It goes against what this country is built upon.”
Representative Rehberg, after cashing his $10,000 check from the group that wants to turn multinational corporations into people:
Paints a pretty striking contrast, doesn’t it?
Surely Montana newspapers have to report that Rehberg took money from Citizens United, right?
Not only is Representative Rehberg championing the right of corporations to pollute Montana politics, he’s benefiting financially from those who were responsible for the Supreme Court decision to allow limitless, secret corporate contributions to campaigns:
In a news release, Tester’s campaign will point out that Rehberg accepted a $10,000 donation from the conservative group Citizens United, the plaintiff in the controversial Supreme Court decision, on Sept. 21. Tester believes that decision “undermines democracy” and supports overturning it through a constitutional amendment.
For 100 years, Montana has protected its political process from the pernicious influence of corporations. We saw firsthand the dangers corporate control of politics as people like William Clark bought their way into the US Senate, using corporate wealth to fuel his rise to power.
A century later, Montana has a candidate for the Senate who is not only advocating an ahistorical “right” for corporations to access the Bill of Rights and undermine Montana law, but taking money from the very corporate interests responsible for this absurd Supreme Court decision.
Representative Rehberg was wrong. Montanans have been right on this issue for 100 years.
Rehberg certainly hasn’t been shy about promoting constitutional amendments for frivolous, political causes. Surely he should support one, like Jon Tester and Max Baucus do, that would actually protect the integrity of our political process.
Senator Tester and Senator Baucus are standing up for Montana’s law and the relatively obvious idea that free speech rights attach to people, not multinational corporations, reports KXLH’s Marnee Banks.
Representative Rehberg, on the other hand, likes the idea of massive corporate polluting the electoral process:
Congressman Denny Rehberg won’t support the amendment. He says a healthy democracy is made up of many voices.
“I don’t think we should deny people their Constitutional right to free speech just because they’re part of a corporation instead of a different form of organization like a non-profit, a campaign or a union,” Rehberg says.
It’s probably not too difficult to understand why Rehberg feels this way, give the reciprocal love he enjoys with corporations of all kinds.
In another note, Rehberg claimed that he believed that “all campaign contributions should be posted online within 24 hours.”
Well, then, Mr. Rehberg, why don’t you do it? It seems that a man who believes in transparency and immediate disclosure of campaign contributions should the lead and start doing it.
Highlighting some of the most interesting and provocative posts in the past week at 
Montana blogs.
D Gregory Smith pointed out, that despite constantly talking about his availability to Montanans, Representative Rehberg has been awfully unwilling to meet with them lately.
Montana Cowgirl found it interesting that Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill would depict himself as someone who struggled as a single father, given the reasons he became one.
I’m not sure that I agree with much of anything Ed Berry says, but I wonder if he’s right that far right conservatives will not support Representative Rehberg because of his support of the Defense Authorization Act and HR 1505.
Rob Natelson managed to blame liberals for the Citizens United decision. It’s really a conservative jurisprudence must-read.
Barb Rush showed once again why she should not ever be elected to the School Board.
Over here, I kept yammering on about Representative Rehberg’s continued dishonesty about Pell Grants, new poster Winston wondered why campaign web sites weren’t in better shape, and Gabriel Furshong argued for the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act.
In announcing his bid for the U.S. Senate Erik Iverson Dennis Rehberg offered this 
fascinating condemnation of Jon Tester and comparison between himself and a Republican hero:
He said the federal debt has almost doubled since Tester became a senator in 2007, that Tester voted for the 2009 economic-stimulus bill that "was a government solution that did not work," and was the deciding vote for the 2010 federal health-reform law that isn’t working, either.
Rehberg also compared the 2012 election to the 1980 campaign of Republican Ronald Reagan against President Jimmy Carter, when Reagan said he was running against the philosophy of "if it moves, tax it; if it still moves, regulate it, and when it finally quits moving, subsidize it."
No commentary, just some facts in response:
Why is the United States facing a fiscal crisis? Not the programs Representative Rehberg 
wants to blame, not Jon Tester’s votes. The fiscal crisis is the direct result of eight years of reckless tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and wars that the President Bush and Representative Rehberg refused to pay for.
It’s certainly reasonable for Representative Rehberg to make a case that he will better represent Montana in Washington than Senator Tester at some level, but for the Representative to lecture anyone about fiscal responsibility is about as appropriate as him lecturing someone about responsible drinking.
it’s because it’s newsworthy that a member of the Senate lives a life like an ordinary American—and because he loves his Montana beef:
An evening around their table is informal (dinner is served family style and everyone clears his or her own plate) and amusing, with the conversation veering from President Obama’s jobs bill to the benefits of local honey to the type of gun best used to eliminate pigeons or deer.
While many Washington wives like to make the dinner party scene and attend spouse lunches on Capitol Hill, Mrs. Tester spends most of her time tending the farm back home. There is harvesting and plowing in the spring and beating back the snow in the winter. In the summer she cans tomatoes and puts up pickles (“Jon eats them like candy”) and choke cherries, though last year those flooded out.
Even though I’m a vegetarian, it’s hard not to admire someone who has certainly remained true to his Montana roots in Washington, even it means eating what sounds like a somewhat unhealthy amount of beef. 
When Dennis Rehberg makes the New York Times, it’s for selling his votes to the mining industry and voting to increase the lead in children’s toys.
Just a thought.
