Do filibusters have to make any sense ?

Question

I know the basis of what a filibuster is but how far can you take its rhetorical nonsense? You can go off for hours on end and can stray from the subject by almost any means but is that it? Can you start speaking another language? Can you make animal noises and describe what it was like on Uncle Joe’s farm? Do your words even have to be put together in a coherent fashion to make sense or can you just go RAWRRRRRR, GRRRRR, LALALA, BLABLA, DADADA and make any noise you want while you are up there. I know it would not be good for any politicians career to take it that far but I am just curious. Thanks. --- Jeff

Answer 1

Under Senate rules, debate generally need not be relevant to the topic under discussion, and there have been cases in which a Senator has undertaken part of a speech by reading from a telephone directory. Strom Thurmond (D-SC) set a record in 1957 by filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours and 18 minutes, although the bill ultimately passed. Thurmond broke the previous record of 22 hours and 26 minutes set by Wayne Morse (I-OR) in 1953 protesting the Tidelands Oil legislation.

Preparations for a filibuster can be very elaborate. Sometimes cots are brought into the hallways or cloakrooms for senators to sleep on. According to Newsweek, "They used to call it 'taking to the diaper,' a phrase that referred to the preparation undertaken by a prudent senator before an extended filibuster ... Strom Thurmond visited a steam room before his filibuster in order to dehydrate himself so he could drink without urinating. An aide stood by in the cloakroom with a pail in case of emergency."

Filibusters have become much more common in recent decades. Twice as many filibusters took place in the 1991-1992 legislative session as in the entire nineteenth century

Answer 2

Wayne Morse filibustered against Tidelands Oil legislation in 1951 for 22 hours and 26 minutes, he had broken the 18-hour record set in 1908 by his mentor, Robert La Follette. Morse kept that distinction until 1957, when Strom Thurmond logged the current single person record of 24 hours and 18 minutes. in 1964 there was an 83 day filibuster of the civil rights act, Robert Byrd spoke for over 14 hours strait, i believe he read from the bible the whole time.

Answer 3

sadly, the filibuster is dead. now, the senate takes breaks at the end of the day and the filibuster can continue the next morning. in the old days the senate actually stayed in the room until the filibusterer stopped filibustering, which meant a compromise HAD to be reached. it isn't like that anymore, so the whole idea is crap. just one more part of the constitution this liberal congress of ours has destroyed. my god, my god, when will it all end?

Answer 4

Filibusters are a great way to keep your opponents from ramming their disliked bills up your nose, so long as they don't have the votes to override the veto and stop the filibuster. Their popularity with either side depends entirely on whose ox is getting gored at the time.

Answer 5

Thank god for C-Span--amazing entertainment. If you want a great filibuster just drop in Senator Robert Byrd. You wont even have to tell him it is a filibuster.

Answer 6

Depends if your in the minority on how much you like it. Just remember all those judges that didn't get past last year. Now that the shoe is on the other foot and democrats want it their way, we have complaints about process.

All depends on power and who's got it.

Answer 7

You probably have to speak English, but you can recite the works of Shakespeare, read the phone book, etc.

Answer 8

I listen to CSpan once. Nothing they said made sense and no one was filibustering.