From “Paul Ryan’s breathtakingly dishonest speech,” James Downie, PostPartisan, Washington Post:
“With tonight’s speech, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have doubled down on their twin bets of 2012 — that journalists will sit back and name winners and losers without regard to who is telling the truth, and that voters are too ignorant to care about the truth. Do not let them be right.”
The NYT is reporting* that more than 500 Super PACs have registered with the Federal Election Commission.
Very rich people used to show off with their Gulfstreams and Ferraris — a Super PAC is the new status symbol.
So now the whole point of limiting the dollar amount of campaign contributions, such as $2500 per person for a presidential campaign, is meaningless. You just shift your money away from the campaign to its Super PAC.
That’s why Mitt’s Super PAC, Restore Our Future, has spent twice as much on ads so far, about $45 million, as Mitt’s campaign. And those ads don’t have the tempering effect that the words “I’m Mitt Romney, and I approve this message,” should have. A candidate can be more shameless and outrageous when he doesn’t have his name on the thing.
If Citizens United protects “speech,” it’s pretty obscene speech.
Between the lobbyists and the campaign finance laws, We the People really don’t have a chance.
“Super PACs Let Strategists Off the Leash,” Nicholas Confessore
Embattled Farmers 