Lynn C. Woolsey: “I was over in my office preparing for the next issue we are going to be debating and listening to this charade that is…”

“I was over in my office preparing for the next issue we are going to be debating and listening to this charade that is supposed to be a debate on campaign finance reform, finding myself extremely embarrassed, embarrassed for the majority party, embarrassed for the people of this country, embarrassed that my colleagues would think people could listen to this and think they were serious; that they would bring before the House campaign finance not reform, but what they would call a constitutional amendment that they do not believe in, and then they would stand there and talk against the amendment that they brought forward. I think my colleagues must think that the people of the United States of America are not very bright. They are wrong. The people will listen to this. They will know it is a ruse. They will know that what my colleagues cannot bear is to have us debate the Shays-Meehan bill, that they do not want to talk about doing away with soft money, that they do not care whether we have accountability with our issue ads.”