senate for 18 years from the great state of wisconsin. -- wes feingold. -- russ feingold. he is out now with a timely new book called "while america sleeps: a wake-up call for the post-9/11 era." senator, an honor to have you on this program. >> you were in wisconsin at the end of the election. we kind of froze ourselves there for the farm aid. tavis: we had a good time. is it to have you in l.a. the, we're it is a little bit warmer. let me go back to the text, where you say "while america sleeps." what are we missing? >> thank you. it is my sense that after 9/11, we think how did this happen to us. i think we have pulled back and stopped looking at the signals. al qaeda is not done. we got osama bin laden, but look at what is happening in yemen right now. there is still a lot of activity. you go over this straight, and you have got al schwab -- as shabab. and then there is a group of nigerians that are doing similar things. you go down to nigeria, and there is a group that looks to be using similar tactics to al qaeda. maybe they are affiliated. maybe they are not. but th

i jump subjects because obviously, you are the feingold of mccain-feingold and everyone who has focusedper pacs and i know you have criticized actually campaign, itself for agreeing to allow super pacs. so you are co-chair of the campaign and you have criticized campaign. how do you justify the two positions? >> you have heard me say i think the president will be a great president on international policy. he is a mature guy. i understand with him on 95% of things. i think one of the biggest mistakes is to go down the road of being involved in unlimited contributions. the energy of the 2008 election that had such a powerful impact to elect barack obama had to do with average citizens feeling like they were part of the process. depresses the base other than people thinking they are spectators. i think it's a mistake and i am urging him not to do it but i am going to support him for president because i think he is a good president. >> don't you think in a second term it's an opportunity to get a constitutional amendment? >> it's hard. >> unless you are congress. it would be impossible goin

join me next time for a conversation with russ feingold on u.s. mistakes in the 10 years since 9-11. bowdothat is next time. we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. >> be more. pbs.

. >> feingold is on tonight.re having them both on. >> it says a lot that mccain would say that. look, large chunks have been taken out of romney's hide. if he does become the nominee, he starts off weaker because of these really intense unprecedentedly negative attacks on him and the extent to which all of this has moved him further to the right on any number of issues. >> yes. look at the hispanic vote. we mentioned women. >> right. >> joan, talk about that. he's gone so far with this self-deportation thing he created. you just gave a slogan to the president, which i believe they should listen. "i believe in you." it's got to be one of the best i've ever heard. that may be better than hope. when you start talking about self-deportation of grandma who may have been here 30 years and learned english and got you through college. let's kick her out of the country. i'm sorry, tell her to leave on her own bus ticket, what are we talking about here? >> making the climate so horrible for immigrants they will leave. the

if you look at 2006, and 2008, mccain feingold was in effect.ou couldn't have politicians raising that kind of money. what the supreme court did in this terrible citizens united decision is say we're going to overturn calls from 1907 to 1997 and let them run ads from their treasury. that means that money can be used immediately for a candidate that you don't believe in. you better believe it's corrupting. we always say there's no such thing as a free lunch. there's also no such thing of a free $10 million contribution. you have corporate democrats voting because of soft money. you saw the consolidation of the media, cutting out the independent voices in radio, and the repeal of glass/segal. this is the result of this kind of a system, and it does corrupt. >> so, you know, on the rest of television, they have the politicians on back and forth, talking about ideals and principal as if that matters. my theory is a great deal of them vote based on the money they get. so what is the reality? you saw for yourself how much does the money make a differe

>> i think feingold can be the real true believer. that will be the very interesting thing.ve got some big shots, what mike was saying, your clinton, your biden, your cuomo. but they're all coming from the heart of the party. there will be a mood from people saying, we have built up this great, strong democratic coalition. but barack obama was not the most liberal thing we can ever do. i think there'll be a big space for someone like that. a dean or feingold-esque figure. >> the bigger story, too, where will the republican party be in four years? >> a lot will depend on who the nominee will be. >> i think they have a candidate in waiting, jeb bush, who has been flat-out not lending his brand to the iteration of the republican party that's out there now. i think it's because he too is running. >> we'll stay on the state of florida, though. marco rubio, for all intents and purposes, marco rubio and bob mcdonnell is the vp come november. >> i don't know if i agree with that. >> the vp or -- let's talk about marco rubio for a second. because he's for all intents and purposes loo

i'm just hoping russ feingold runs for governor.pplause] [inaudible] >> the question is -- i think what has happened in madison, wisconsin has spread across the country and revitalizing the grassroots force in progressive causes around the country. people see that you can really make a difference. but, chris christie was going this direction. john kasich and they were all, by the way, coordinating and working together. thank you. and what happened to scott walker put the fear of god until the rest of them. absolutely. it was a tremendous turnout in madison. very exciting. >> let's think about eichin influence on american politics. american legislative -- >> i'm sorry. the american legislative exchange council i believe is what it stands for. it is one of the coat others organization that she probably never heard about. most people haven't. what they do is write model legislation for state legislatures and there are many, many cases where the legislatures, for example, at another proper word to call this, ugly legislation passed in v

. >> i don't anybody doubts that bernie sanders and russ feingold have strong feelings about that. we're democrats and we're used to disagreeing with each other from time to time. whether or not we have to play by the rules or set up a different set of standard for democrats. but at the end of the day you know, we don't have a choice about what the rules are right now. the supreme court made it's decision. mitt romney made it crystal clear how important super pacs are to him. conventional wisdom is all wrong. people think that santorum and guinn's campaigns would not have survived out super pac. the truth is mitt romney would not still be in this race out a super pac. if votes have gone another way in michigan and ohio, rick santorum would be the presumptive nominee right now. and santorum should have had the sense to put more money into ohio and get the 12,000 votes he needed to win that state. but instead because of the campaign he has been running he hasn't been able to beat mitt romney. at the end of the day we know what campaign reform would look like under romney. he likes th

average american if they were really passionate about politics good let's set a threshold like mccain feingold had it twenty two hundred dollars and say that's it oh please shelley adelson sargeant cancer newt gingrich into a national star. and we're not trying to turn him into a national star but he has got a message that is resonating with many people and if it was not he would be out of the race and don't count his king grinch out yet ok all right david selig thank you very much for being with us it's on thank you very much and thank you to your viewing audience appreciate it you're welcome well using corporate money is one way for conservatives to win an election they've been using another tactic for a much longer dog whistle politics i'll have more on that coming up after the break . so. lucky. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old i like to tell the truth. i confess i am a little get a sense that i love rap and hip hop is a pretty. cutter's kind of yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without it's place. look look look . you know sometimes you see a story and it se

i thought mccain-feingold was of a good idea but prove not to be with unintended consequences and now the citizens united decision but no doubt many defects outcome it buys access access, tweaks in the tax code, it is a lot easier to put been dead tax loopholes and benefit than a government program. and i talk with former congressmen taye and click and he said money is not only the mother's milk but also the yogurt and cottage cheese. it controls everything. how we deal with this without a constitutional amendment? for those independent voters to make $50 contributions to candidates that they like. that they think are doing the right thing and if you think of the elector it course barack obama raised a lot of money. >> host: it is money spent lobbying they spend millions of dollars lobbying for or against the health care bill. >> guest: the same for wall street reform. >> guest: i am not sure how you deal with it. except, members care about money because they want it to to pay for campaigns but it is a means to an end. the money is the way to get the boat. if the voters showed up i li

as jeff said you can say that about pretty much any as you and i want to like go back to mccain feingold john mccain had a great idea twenty five hundred dollars from ground zero that does it if you don't know sort of what i mean that's the argument against that of the corporation is it doesn't pass the constitutional muster and i don't think speech is money i think it's property i see the money i don't think money is speech i think it's probably will the supreme court i called the industries with you i'm not sure that's that's what you're about to make a right. if you agree you both agree with this record yes i do think that i'm not matter yes corporations should be people and who want to do many i mean a new and sort of ideological and philosophical discussion on this but who makes that corporations i mean what is a corporation and corporations are authorized by the was an individual states they are oh yeah your question is the way they are distracted but what is the who creates somewhere where does that come from secretary of state's office so it's clearly going to visit her but it's

. >> russ feingold is the former senator from wisconsin best known for his bipartisan efforts to establish campaign finance reform. >> this week he spoke to 7 live's brian copeland about the continued threat of terrorism and the supreme court's decision that spawned the growth of super packs. >> we were taken by surprise by 9/11. who saw that coming? we said we better stay in touch with what is going on in the rest of the world. not just terrorist threats but other things going on. i think we did it for awhile. then we got distracted on iraq an were stuck on afghanistan. i don't think we were paying attention to a lot of places where al-qaeda is operating. but we are not talking about foreign policy much in this country anymore. who is really thinking about those things? if you look at that presidenti is race it is understandably because of the economy it is part of the reason we are not doing it. but we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. we are not going to be safe if we go, boy i am glad osama bin laden is gone. that's not the whole ballgame. we will get surprised again if we ar

tomorrow senator russ feingold, don't miss it. also don't miss "countdown," which is next. >>> which of these stories will you be talking about? >> getting into issues of controversy. i'm not going there. >> of course i support the blunt amenityment. >> what has it got to do with the price of gas? >> your detector is pretty sharp. you know that we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices. >> newt gingrich is not from new hampshire and pulling that elitist subway riders card againy. >> the american people drive cars and trucks. i know this is a shock to the present. it doesn't fit what they taught him. >> nice try sparky. worst yet he is speaking about the key stone x l pipeline. >> i think we should embrace it and develop a stake holder driven system of high standards for doing the work. >> wrong! more on murdochs. the brit yaich parlimentary conduct. shear holders to jaim, get out. >> arizona simple showbiz sheriff goes from dressing prisoners in pink to selling birtherism. >> we believe probable cause exists indicating forge

. >> mike, what do you hear, if anything, about russ feingold the former senator getting in or senator herb cole may be going after the position? >> there has been talk about both those men. obviously, great public servants, both very -- remain very popular even though russ lost in 2010, remains very popular. i have spoken with both of them, i'm sure john talked to russ and others as well. it's just herb cole is retiring, he's 77 years old, looking to spending time watching more bucks games back home. >> what about the money, there will be money to support walker, how will the democrats fare in that regard? >> here is one of the things, ed, i think this will be one of those rare situations where the candidate with the most money doesn't necessarily win. scott walker has outspent progressives 12 to 1 since we started collecting petitions in november. his numbers stayed the same or gotten worse. so i think this may be a problem that scott walker can't buy his way out of with oul the koch brother money in the world. >> john nichols, this is an unprecedented recall effort in american histo

i thought the mccain-feingold was a good idea. the campaign finance reform and it has driven to maybe not be so good in terms of unintended consequences and then we have the supreme court citizens united decision. there is no doubt the money affects outcome on capitol hill. money buys access. money buys tweaks to the tax code. it's a lot easier to come -- put in a tax loophole of benefits for corporate entity than it is a government program and there is a lot of that that has been going on. i talked with former congressman dan glickman about this and he said to me, mom -- money isn't just a yogurt in politics, it's the yogurt and cottage cheese too. i don't know how we deal with this. money always finds a way. one of the theses that i have in my book, i say an independent voter can make all contributions, 50-dollar contributions to candidates they want. independent candidates that they think are doing the right thing, or trying to work together, are coming up with solutions and if you think about 40% of the electorate making small

in the state if the election were held today, he would lose to kathleen falk, tom barrett or russ feingoldative talk show on radio and tv across america. but walker has a ray of hope. today, the wisconsin government accountability board announced they would ask a dane county judge for an extension of the march 19th deadline to certify the recount petitions, if the judge grants the extension, walker will have more time to rake in unlimited out of state funds before the democrats could even pick a candidate. wisconsinites, they can't take your soul, faith and determination and vote. stay focused, stay on task. >>> next, franklin graham backs down and apologizes for questioning president obama's religion. dr. james peterson tells us if it's enough, next. [ female announcer ] with swiffer wetjet, cleaning better, doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm going to... drink this... on the porch! ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] mops can be a hassle, but swiffer wetjet's spray cleaner and absorbent pads can clean better in half the time so you don't miss a thing. swiffer.

. >> the congress did address the problem and the mccain-feingold with the communications definition it was precisely tailored to get at this issue and is it if you are going to run a broad with a satellite of within 30 days of the primary and the general targeted to the relevant electorate and spend more than 10 grams have to file a disclosure report saying that he spent the money. welcome the c4s are filing that report that they spend x dollars but with the congress also said in that statute and the bipartisan campaign reform act and the feingold all is anyone that spends including the organization that spent more than $10,000 on that type of ad, a bright line had an easy to know whether you are inside or outside of that line has to disclose all contributors contributed more than a thousand dollars to the organization and it is after that call was held up by the justices in the supreme court they passed a regulation with very little notice of 2007 so the only time the spender actually has to tell us where you got your money we are not going to meet you require the names of all cont

them a million dollars, and liberals go on his show all the time, jennifer g ravment mholm, russ feingold was on his show, you have the liberals saying rush limbaugh has to be taken off the air for saying something like this, it doesn't make sense that somebody like bill maher is not only able to stay on but have the top democrats and top liberals coming on like it's no problem. megyn: you saw him the grand poopah of media mass on thisny and the examples are epic. he called sarah palin a dumb t, blank, t, he called her the c word. >> yes. megyn: he called sarah palin and congresswoman bachmann and two bim bos, and on and on it goes and i thought it was interesting because you point out how none other than gloria steinham goes on his show and doesn't confront him about it but who. >> ann coulter, the big feminist, ann coulter. so i think the thing is that it's hard to even repeat the things that he says on television because they're so outrageous and what's been particularly upsetting to me, megyn, has been the response i've gotten to this article, when is oh, it's so different, it's okay

bill: you stunned the country beating russ feingold two years ago. >> it was pretty simple election back then. we're bankrupting this nation. obamacare so unpopular, people inherently understand that the federal government simply has no capability of taking over 1/6 of our economy. people also realize that mandating purchasing something like this, runs counter to their belief what this country is all about. bill: you also say we as a country collectively suffer from the stockholm syndrome like hostages . what do you mean? >> the stockholm syndrome you're just thankful when captive that your kidnappers show you any sled of mercy. we're begging the supreme court to give us this remaining shred of freedom and we'll be grateful for it. i think we collectively suffer from the stockholm syndrome. bill: senator, thank you. individual mandate starts in 40 minutes when the arguments continue. >> i'll be there. bill: you bet. ron johnson, republican from wisconsin. martha. martha: another big story today. one of the biggest threats facing u.s. national security t could devastate the major aspects

this goes way back, and i can remember sitting up here back when senator feingold introduced the cleanwe've had this before us many, many times. and it's turned out that this would be the most damaging thing in terms of ag, the farm bureau and oh groups like -- other groups like that have said this is something that is not livable, and so consequently, i was, i was disappointed when we sent the guidance to omb for final review. and not only has congress pointedly rejected similar efforts to statutorily expand the clean water act, a majority of the supreme court justices concluded in the rapannos case and only yesterday in the sacket case that the epa, the government was exceeding its regulatory authority in how to regulate our waters. i would ask, you know, how does the administration's policy as articulated in the new guidance differ from the overreach that was overturned by the supreme court. and can that was only yesterday. however, it's been rejected twice before in the swank and rapanos case. and my interest here, of course, is to do something about this final rule in terms of how

and the chairman is right and that part of the bipartisan campaign reform act also known as mccain-feingold in 2002, the fcc is charted with requiring broadcasters to keep political files with some of this information. including the camp pain committee just call call the station inquiring about that, and so that's important for broadcasters are coming to us, saying the proposals might be unduly burdensome to them. so you know i think it's important for us to ask what is the cost benefit analysis here and to way that very carefully and to liberally and also maybe generally speaking as policymakers we should be asking do we want transparency and campaign spending and should we turn the microscope around off of the tv broadcasters and look at the campaigns are the political committees that are spending the money and where's that money going? that would give them a more comprehensive view. i am saying if it is the goal, the fcc is not necessarily the best agency to do that especially if we are just focusing on the narrow issues of tv broadcasters in no other media. >> so i guess then this begs

i endorsed mccain-feingold.aving ali babba and they'vary. >> in that same poll 34% of american voters trust him to take care of the nation. 30% trust romney. this is a guy who's being outspent ten to one. i mean it's an impressive feat. we talk a lot about american politics being corrupted by money and i think to a large extent they are. but it's a testament to the weakness of the field and santorum's message. >> some more somber news. more protests in afghanistan as anger builds over the u.s. army sniper alleged to have killed 16 afghan civilians early sunday in a door-to-door shooting spree about a mile from hi base. hundreds of students gathered today to call for the soldier's assassination. it is reframing a debate inside the white house where the president's advisers are urging him to speed up the withdrawal of american soldiers from the war zone. one option under consideration would reduce the number of troops by an additional 20,000 or more by 2013, next year. those talks were underway for weeks but given

bush signed mccain feingold and said -- more or less implied this may or may not be constitutional. we get from that? we got citizens united. exactly. okay. the supreme court deciding issues of fundamental political communication in this country because a law was sent to them originally or a bill signed into law of at least open and some could say dubious constitutional foundation that led to all sorts of other things. if you are going to send it to the court, be careful what you wish for. >> major garrett as a friend for this hour, and i want to talk about the republican primary and rick santorum saying, i would be glad to be mitt romney's vice presidential running mate. he may be the worst republican in the country but i would be glad to be his vice presidential running mate. again, your calls at 866-55-press. the full court press on this wednesday morning, march 28th. good to have you with us. >> this is the bill press show. it's completely inappropriate for television. y. i was surprised to hear there was no life insurance. funerals are so expensive. i hope larry can afford it.