Political Quotes

“That enhancement applies not only to the newspapers, of course. Just to take an example of one of the great proponents of the bill, Common Cause. Its ability to communicate its ideas is not in any way restricted by this bill, nor, of course, could it be. But the ability of a candidate who disagrees with the views of Common Cause, or the Sierra Club, or the National Rifle Association, or the AFL-CIO, is severely restricted and, as a matter of fact, may be rendered totally and entirely ineffective. Now, the proponents of this bill have said this is a very narrow bill. It only applies to the Senate, for example, and not even to the House of Representatives--as if we will ever end up getting a law of that nature. It does not apply to the Presidency. That was a statement made recently by, I think, the Senator from Arizona, which is entirely correct. It does not. But the philosophy behind the bill, that there is just too much free speech in politics today, is absolutely identical. So I think it not at all unfair, Mr. President, to say that we are faced today, right now, without any change in the present law at all, under present laws that stem exactly from the philosophy behind this bill, with the absolutely absurd situation in which there is only one person in the United States of America who may not raise money to communicate his ideas to the people of the United States, and that person is Robert Dole.”