This week, Sen. Rand Paul stalled the Senate’s confirmation of John Brennan for CIA director with a nearly 13-hour filibuster. There’s been a lot of debate about the age-old congressional tactic in recent years, whether it’s hand-wringing over how the Senate is broken or overheated threats of eliminating the procedure entirely, but the truth is that United States senators just don’t obstruct the way they used to. Today just the promise to get on the stand and speak continuously has the same effect as actually doing it—rarely is an opposition senator really forced to risk sleep deprivation and a scratchy throat. Senate historian Don Ritchie says: “Senators can filibuster by using any number of parliamentary devices that don’t require them to say anything more than ‘I object.’ These days, a failed cloture motion is counted as a filibuster, even when there’s been no debate at all on the subject.” If you don’t believe the Senate was plenty brutal in the “good old days,” take a look at the Congressional Record. Or even better, take a look at this gallery, because we’ve done it for you. Click through for a few of the most memorable filibusters in American history, including links to the most incendiary and absurd excerpts of the transcripts, from potlikker recipes to eugenics.
