So Newt Gingrich says that he wants to level the playing field with guys like Sheldon Adelson ... but I do not think Newt Gingrich
thinks leveling the playing field means the same thing that you and I think it means:
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R), whose 2012 presidential bid was boosted by $15 million spent by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, on Friday decried the outsize influence that the wealthy have on the political process.
The answer? Candidates should be able to raise the kind of massive sums that super PACs can, Gingrich told the National Journal.
Seriously? Yep:
"Whether it's the Koch brothers or [George] Soros on the left or Sheldon," Gingrich said, "if you're going to have an election process that radically favors billionaires and is discriminating against the middle class—which we now have—then billionaires are going to get a lot of attention."
"The truth is, we desperately need an election reform which allows candidates to receive the same amount of money as super PACs,” he added.
So if you're going to let billionaires donate millions to Super PACs, the electoral system will be tilted in their favor and against the middle class. And the solution to that problem is to let the billionaires donate unlimited amounts directly to candidates, bypassing Super PACs?
Call me crazy, but that doesn't sound like campaign finance reform. That sounds like cutting out the middleman.