GOP Candidates Discover the Problems With Money in Politics

Wikimedia

"You're going to have money dumped in this election cycle that's going to turn off the American people. There's going to be a need and a movement to try to control the money in politics."
That wouldn't be a revolutionary statement from a Democratic politician. But it's not from a Democratic politician. It's from Senator Lindsey Graham, a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful. Graham has some personal reasons for speaking out against big money—he'll struggle to match the top-tier GOP candidates' fundraising—and has voted for campaign-finance laws in the past, but he's not the only one doing so.
As The Washington Post's Matea Gold notes, Chris Christie has been offering a tempered critique of the emerging world of campaign finance in the aftermath of the Citizens United, SpeechNow, and McCutcheon court cases. “I think what is corrupting in this potentially is we don’t know where the money is coming from,” the New Jersey governor said in New Hampshire.
Graham and Christie may come from the more moderate side of the party, but Ted Cruz—who most assuredly does not—also seems to find the whole business distasteful.
“I’ve told my six-year-old daughter, ‘Running for office is real simple: you just surgically disconnect your shame sensor,’” he said. “Because you spend every day asking people for money. You walk up and say, ‘How are you doing, sir? Can I have money? Great to see you, lovely shirt, please give me money.’ That’s what running for office is like.”

source