...that which can be accounted for by stupidity and ignorance. I agree with this commenter:
If you were referring to almost any other sitting Senator, I would agree. Boxer, however, may very well believe everything that she said. She's 18 different ways of stupid.
He's being unkind. I can think of several other Senators about as bad. Because the bill doesn't explicitly specify a price, she probably really does believe that it won't result in a price change, because people like her really do believe that they can, through legislation, outlaw the laws of economics. No doubt she also believes that if Congress were to simply pass a law making gasoline two bucks a gallon, it would work just fine. And I suspect that Joe Lieberman, bless his neoconservative heart, believes it as well.
I really dislike this saying. Self interest drives many acts of stupidity (especially the kind where they had to think about it to do it). Maybe she believes that gas prices won't rise or maybe she believes that lying just this once for a great cause (that makes her feel really good inside) is justified. Or both. Doesn't really matter in the long run.