Bad Deeds for 6-11-2007

Leadership PACs Circumvent the Intent of Campaign Finance Limits – Individuals can contribute up to $5,000 a year to leadership PACs, giving them a way to avoid contribution limits. For a typical House race, a contributor can give $1,000 for the primary election, $1,000 to the general election, and $5,000 per year to a candidate’s leadership PAC, effectively raising the contribution limit to $12,000. If a contributor gives the maximum to a Senate leader’s PAC, he can give a total of $30,000 over the six-year term – 15 times the limit for campaign contributions. Contributions to a member’s leadership PAC are converted to campaign contributions when the sponsor contributes the PAC money to his or her colleagues in order to curry favor with them.

Mitt Romney’s Lie About the Iraq Invasion – Asked during the Republican presidential debate if it was “a mistake for us to invade Iraq,” Romney replied, “We wouldn’t be in the conflict we’re in if Saddam Hussein had opened up his country to IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] inspectors and they’d come in and they’d found that there were no weapons of mass destruction.” In fact, Hussein did allow IAEA inspectors into Iraq before the invasion, and they “found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq.” Saddam also allowed the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) into Iraq before the invasion, and its inspectors “did not find evidence of the continuation or resumption of programmes of weapons of mass destruction.”

Mitt Romney’s Staff’s Crazy Explanation of His Lie About the Iraq Invasion Ezra Klein called up Romney’s office for their comment on his lie (see above) at the debate: – When Romney said “if Saddam Hussein had opened his country to IAEA inspectors and they’d gone in and found that there were no weapons,” he didn’t mean that the inspectors didn’t go in and find that there was no evidence of a revived nuclear weapons program; he was instead offering a near-metaphysical commentary on Saddam’s intentionality throughout the whole process. Because Saddam did not welcome them with joy in his heart and transparency on his lips, they weren’t actually there.

Majority of Republicans Doubt Theory of Evolution – Maybe they haven’t evolved enough to do the Scientific Method?

Regards,

Jim