Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert declared Sunday that he believes in Super PACs because "the more money you have, the more you can speak."
Last week, Colbert turned the Super PAC that he founded over to Comedy Central host Jon Stewart so as not to run afoul of campaign laws while he considers running for the Republican presidential nomination in South Carolina.
The Stewart-controlled Super PAC released an ad Saturday attacking Colbert's potential opponent Mitt Romney as a "serial killer" for his record of destroying corporations as the head of Bain Capital. Speaking at the Iowa State Fair last year, Romney had asserted that “corporations are people.”
"I have nothing to do with that ad," Colbert told ABC's George Stephanopoulos Sunday, mocking U.S. campaign laws. "I have no control over that ad. If anything in that ad is inaccurate, if he did not say corporations are people, if he did not make his money cutting up corporate people -- I am not calling anyone a serial killer. I can't tell Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow what to do. It's not my Super PAC."
"If that's not accurate, I hope they take it down," he added. "I don't know if Mitt Romney is a serial killer. That's a question he's going to have to answer. ... I do not want any untrue ads on the air that could in any way be traced back to me."
Responding to a Facebook question asking if the 2012 presidential election should be determined by who could raise the most money, Colbert declared that "money equals speech."
"So you agree with the Supreme Court?" Stephanopoulos asked, referring to the so-called Citizens United decision which found that the government could not limit political spending by corporations.
"On almost everything," Colbert agreed. "Money equals speech. Therefore the more money you have, the more you can speak. That just stands to reason. If corporations are people, corporation should be able to speak. That's why I believe in Super PACs."
