McConnell: 'Absurd' to ban corporations from having same rights as 'people'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Friday said that he opposed a constitutional amendment to ban corporations from having the same rights as people because the idea was "absurd."

Speaking to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, McConnell accused President Barack Obama's administration of using a "culture of intimidation" to stifle free speech.

Following the remarks, the Washington Free Beacon's Lachlan Markay asked McConnell for his thoughts on a constitutional amendment proposed by Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to clarify that corporations are not "people" and restore Congress' ability to limit corporate influence in elections.

"Well you have to give them some points for not hiding it," McConnell quipped. "They are uncomfortable with corporate free speech obviously."

"They were not uncomfortable with corporate free speech when corporations that owned newspapers or television stations were engaging in it. They only become uncomfortable with it when the Supreme Court said, why should there be a carve out for corporations that own the media outlet and for no one else?"

The Kentucky Republican concluded: "Its an absurd proposal and it won’t go anywhere."

Watch this video from C-SPAN, uploaded on June 21, 2013.