Mike Thompson: “All right. I was not aware that there was a time agreement. So I apologize for the necessarily abbreviated nature of the…”

“All right. I was not aware that there was a time agreement. So I apologize for the necessarily abbreviated nature of the rest of my remarks, which basically have to do with the fact that we have an interpretation now by the Attorney General which permits that. Therein lies part of the problem of those who advocate for campaign finance reform, because those who advocate it in many cases have lost the high ground. The President certainly lost the high ground because of his behavior, and I must say that after our congressional hearings on this subject where we saw foreign money coming in, people taking the fifth amendment, unlimited access to the White House, shakedowns with regard to American Indians and Buddhist nuns, use of the White House, setting people up in positions with classified information, and then raising money and all of the coverups attendant to that, while we need to address that from a campaign finance standpoint for the future, we have not adequately addressed what has gone on in the past. When we look around for blame to assess with regard to the fact we can't move this legislation, we have to come to terms with the fact that those who want to reform cannot be content with saying all we need is reform and forget about the past. We have not adequately addressed the past.”