Dem
47
GOP
53
It might well have been the single-worst bit of American political trivia: The record for longest speech on the floor of the Senate was held by an outspoken racist, speaking in favor of a white supremacist agenda. We refer, of course, to Strom Thurmond, who prattled on for 24 hours and 18 minutes while unsuccessfully filibustering against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. We have absolutely no doubt that, at least once or twice during that performance, the hypocrite's thoughts went to his half-Black daughter, born out of the Senator's longstanding extramarital affair with his Black maid.
As of yesterday, however, Thurmond is no longer the record holder. He has been dethroned, appropriately enough, by a Black man. That would be Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who commenced a speech on the floor of the Senate at 6:59 p.m. ET on Monday. The subject of the speech was predations against democracy by Donald Trump and his minions. In other words, the Senator had a lot of material to work with. And while the original target was 15 hours (which was about the length of a pro-gun-control speech given by friend and colleague Chris Murphy, D-CT, a few years back), Booker had plenty left in the tank when he reached that mark, and so he kept going. And going. And going. When he finally yielded the floor at 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday, he'd been speaking for 25 hours, 6 minutes. That left Thurmond—who is himself dust, these days—in the dust, by about 48 minutes.
Back in Thurmond's day, such theatrics had some reasonable chance of causing legislation to be changed, or even abandoned, since Senate rules did not allow for other matters to be considered until the current matter had been resolved. These days, of course, that is not the case, so the only purpose to Booker's speech was to draw attention to both Trump's bad behavior, and to the resistance to that behavior in the Senate. Booker's speech isn't going to change anything, at least in the short term, but it does send a message that many Democrats have been longing to hear.
Note, incidentally, that while there is no spoken filibuster these days, the same rules do apply when it comes to holding the floor. That is to say, there's no allowance for naps or bathroom breaks or other pauses like that. Back in the day, filibustering members would sometimes wear a diaper or would hide a specimen bottle behind the podium. Booker apparently didn't need that kind of help; he fasted for 2 days prior to the speech so he'd be running on empty, as it were. He did take questions from the audience (reporters and other Senators), so as to give his voice a break. That said, even if he was the person speaking only 80% of the time, talking for 20 out of 25 hours while hungry and dehydrated is quite the physical and mental feat. (Z)