Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am delighted to join my colleagues, particularly Senator McCain and Senator Feingold, in announcing our intent to bring bipartisan campaign finance reform legislation to a vote in September. At the State level, Maine has led the Nation on this issue, and the people of my State think the time has come for Congress to step up to the plate and enact meaningful reform. As a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, I have spent the past month listening to testimony about illegal campaign contributions. It is not a pretty picture. In my opening statement at the hearings, I observed that our political system suffers from a mania for money. If anything, the hearings have demonstrated that I underestimated just how intense that mania is. Mr. President, we should be embarrassed by how our political system is viewed. Listen to the judgment rendered by Johnny Chung, one of the individuals alleged to have laundered foreign political contributions. 'I see the White House is like a subway--you have to put in coins to open the gates.' What Mr. Chung did not say, because he did not have to say it, is that the vast majority of hard-working and honest Americans do not have enough coins to make the gates open. This is not a partisan observation. All of us in this Chamber-- Republicans and Democrats alike--should be embarrassed at the perception that the leaders of the greatest Nation on earth are accessible only to those with enough coins.”