Stephen Colbert vs. Karl Rove: Who's better at 'money laundering'?

Now, another limitation of super PACs is that they must disclose their donors, and that was the jumping-off point for Colbert’s Thursday show. He had his lawyer, Trevor Potter, come out and give him the paperwork for his brand new shell corporation, named “Anonymous Shell Corporation.” This kind of organization, known in campaign finance terms as a 501(c)(4) firm, doesn’t have to disclose its donors. In turn, it can give unlimited amounts to super PACs.

“What is the difference between that and money laundering?” asked Colbert.

“It’s hard to say,” said his lawyer.

Colbert has a specific target in mind here. He’s after Karl Rove – earlier on the show, he’d interviewed a canned ham wearing glasses, calling it “Ham Rove.” Mr. Rove is a force behind the creation of a GOP super PAC named “American Crossroads,” and a shell corporation named “Crossroads GPS” that can accept unlimited cash from individuals and corporations, then funnel it to American Crossroads.

“Crossroads GPS’s policy is to not provide the names of its donors to the general public,” notes the group on its website.

For its part, American Crossroads is currently the biggest source of outside expenditures in the 2012 campaign cycle, according to the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics. So far it’s spent more than $1.1 million aiding GOP causes.

We’ll note that the House Majority PAC, a liberal group, is close behind in second place, at around $900,000 for Democrats. Will Colbert Super PAC ever make the top 10 here? We’re calling him out – he’s just doing chump change so far.

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