COLORADO SPRINGS - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has called for the Department of Justice to prosecute producers and distributors of "the worst-of-the-worst obscene materials" as part of a campaign promise to protect America's children from internet predators and pornography.
Speaking before a crowd of 700 donors at the El Paso County Republican Party's annual fundraiser on July 18, Romney outlined his plan to crack down on child predators. He proposed a "One-Strike, You're Ours" law mandating "new, tougher federal penalties for first-time offenders who use the internet to sexually assault children, including stiff mandatory jail time to be followed by lifetime tracking by Global Positioning Satellite."
Like many politicians seeking the conservative vote, Romney then proceeded to lump in legal, consensual adult entertainment with kiddie porn and internet crimes.
"Even though the interstate trafficking of obscenity is illegal, federal obscenity laws have not been adequately enforced," Romney said. "To protect our children, we need to enforce our current laws."
Romney failed to explain how he would enforce those laws, or how he would distinguish "the worst-of-the-worst" of "obscene materials." He did, however, vow to punish and fine retailers selling violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.
The candidate's speech echoed his latest campaign commercial, in which he states: "I'd like to see us clean up the water in which our kids are swimming...I'd like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers. I'd like to keep drugs off the streets. I'd like to see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies."
Meanwhile, the religious right has criticized Gov. Romney for failing to prevent the Marriott hotel chain from offering adult movies during his tenure on its Board of Directors.
"Marriott is a major pornographer. And even though [Romney] may have fought it, everyone on that board is a hypocrite for presenting themselves as family values when their hotels offer 70 different types of hard-core pornography," said Phil Burress of Ohio-based anti-porn group Citizens for Community Values.
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