Romney Unwittingly Explains Why Citizens United Was Wrong

[Tx4obama]

Romney Unwittingly Explains Why Citizens United Was Wrong

At a forum on education policy on Tuesday morning, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney launched into an unexpected explanation of why big money should be kept out of our political system:

I just think that the most important aspect in being able to have a productive relationship between the teachers’ unions and the districts in the states that they are dealing with is that the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contributions from the teachers’ union itself. . . . The largest contributors to the Democratic Party are the teachers’ unions, the federal teachers unions, and so, if (the unions) can elect someone that person is supposed to be representing the public vis a vis the teachers’ union, but actually most of their money came from the teachers’ union. It’s an extraordinary conflict of interest. That’s something I think is a problem and should be addressed.

Romney is right! When a wealthy individual or organization that has a stake in public policy is able to spend their vast fortunes influencing elections, that inevitably leads to corruption. No one should have any illusions that politicians who enjoy massive support from teachers’ unions are any less corruptible than those who enjoy the support of Republican casino billionaires.

Yet this problem cannot “be addressed,” as Romney suggests, because the Supreme Court declared in Citizens United v. FEC that wealthy corporations and unions have a right to spend unlimited sums of money to buy and sell elections. The core holding of Citizens United was that massive outside spending seeking to change the result of an election “do(es) not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Apparently, even Mitt Romney understands that this holding makes no sense.

-snip-

Full article here: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/09/25/905611/romney-unwittingly-explains-why-citizens-united-was-wrong/

[Pisces]

1. This guy is a walking contradiction. He has no idea what he is saying at any given time.

[Generic Other]

2. Revised version of his speech here:

I just think that the most important aspect in being able to have a productive relationship between the CEOs and their corporations in the states that they are dealing with is that the person sitting across the table from them should not have received the largest campaign contributions from the corporation itself. . . . The largest contributors to the Republican Party are the corporations, the CEOs, and so, if (Wall Street) can elect someone that person is supposed to be representing the public vis a vis the 99%, but actually most of their money came from the corporate donors. It’s an extraordinary conflict of interest. That’s something I think is a problem and should be addressed.

[Tx4obama]

3. When I heard Romney on TV today the first thing I thought of was the money the oil companies

give to the Republicans!

[starroute]

4. What other "problems" does Romney see besides airplane windows and teachers' unions?

I'm starting to think this guy is a walking grab-bag of personal grievances. He doesn't know much about either domestic or foreign policy, but he's got a collection of "problems" he'd really like to see something done about.

[nc4bo]

5. That's what happens to liars, the truth slips out like a quiet fart. nm

[DreamGypsy]

6. SBD

air biscuit ghost turd

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sbd

I can still fly my fume-belching SBD out to SBD because it's quiet enough.

[Justice]

7. Mandering again

Defined by people far more clever than me. -- Mitt Romney saying one thing to one group and something else to another group.

Adelson spends $80 to $100 million on this election, Koch Brothers, dark money donors give Crossroads millions of dollars and we don't even get to know who contributed (because they might be subject to ridicule and scorn) yet UNIONS cannot give because of a conflict of interest.

Breathtakingly unbelievable.