From the Trib AKA Back when we walked uphills both ways to the Hill…
The U.S. Senate has scheduled a filibuster for Wednesday night so senators can talk themselves blue in the face about who’s to blame because Democrats won’t allow some of President Bush’s judicial nominations to come to a vote. We’re not going to debate the merits of the issue today–of course every nominee should get a vote. This time, we’d rather complain about the wussy nature of this filibuster.
Time was when a Senate filibuster meant something. Senators were forced to stay up all night and had to keep talking until they were close to collapse. Remember that scene in the movie, "Mr. Smith goes to Washington"? Jimmy Stewart does collapse on the Senate floor.
But the senators of the 108th Congress aren’t about to collapse from this effort. This filibuster has been carefully choreographed. It’ll last 30 hours, from Wednesday evening through midnight Thursday. No senator will have to blabber on for 30 hours. The time is being split equally between Republicans and Democrats. A Republican will blabber for 30 minutes, then a Democratic senator will blabber for 30 minutes . . . you get the picture. The point of this exercise? Beats us. Even hot air ain’t what it used to be.