Fourteen million bucks. That's how much Mitt Romney's super PAC spent on attacking his opponents just last month, in just three states. Where is all that pro-Romney money coming from?
From the obvious place, of course: Really, really rich people. From Nick Confessore:
While Restore Our Future took in donations as small as $5, close to $5 million raised by the super PAC came from just 25 individuals and corporations, each giving between $100,000 and $500,000.
Three individuals gave half a million dollars apiece: Joseph W. Craft, an Oklahoma mining executive; Bruce Kovner, a billionaire hedge fund founder from New York; and David Lisonbee, the founder of a Utah vitamin supplements company.
The group also received further donations from some past donors: Harold C. Simmons, a Texas billionaire who has already donated millions of dollars to Republican super PACs; members of the Marriott and Walton families, founders of the Marriott hotel and Wal-Mart chains, respectively; and Julian Robertson, a retired hedge fund manager.
Nice friends to have. I wish I had friends who would give me half a million bucks each just to help a fellow out. I don't think I'd use it on advertising campaigns against a set of momentary enemies bankrolled by other rich people, though, which I guess is yet another way the rich are different from you or me. And the wealthy have to stick together, lest government of the One Percent, by the One Percent, and for the One Percent perish from this earth.
The super PAC raised about $7 million during January. Of that, $5 million was from this small group of mega-donors and companies. No prize for guessing what they want to get out of the bargain: They want a president who will treat their companies as untouchable, and who will demand they pay less taxes than they even do now, and I imagine this particular group thinks Romney is the only one of these Republican clowns that still has even a fragment of electability.
Mitt Romney seems to have nothing going for him, as politician. People don't really trust him or find him likable, the press doesn't like him, other Republicans don't like him. His ethereal policy positions are a national joke. The only reason we seem to be subjected to Mitt Romney at all is because he and a number of other filthy rich Americans are bankrolling him, and money equals electability. Or, at least, it buys a hell of a lot of negative ads against everyone else.