Curmudgeon's Corner

An Old-Fashioned Filibuster

Posted by Al Campbell on March 8, 2013

U.S., Political

Senators Paul, McCain and Graham have made names for themselves over the past couple of days.

Rand Paul performed an old classic; an actual speech-driven filibuster on the floor of the Senate.  I grew up in the era where that was a somewhat regularly used tool of the Senate.  It gave the minority the opportunity to prevent one action or another by depriving the majority of the floor so as to take a vote.  Some of these were classic with books being read, questions being asked from the podium to permit the real filibusterer the time to sneak away to the bathroom, and some real heartfelt statements of position.

I rather enjoyed the rekindling of those old memories no matter the position being argued.

Senators McCain and Graham, on the other hand, continued their downward slide on my personal list of decent politicians.  There was a time when they ranked above ‘decent’ but they managed to remove themselves from that lofty status some time ago.  They are pushing real hard now to be removed from the list of decent politicians and relegated to that scrap heap known to me as the ‘has been’ politicians for whom my hope is defeat so they can retire and quit causing themselves embarrassment.

The umbrage taken by these two tired politicians over the Rand Paul filibuster was a bit much.  I suspect they are frightened to death by Rand Paul’s continued rise in popularity thinking that he is sure to be a libertarian crank like his dad.  The Republicans could really stand some make-overs.  Paul is grandstanding so as to gain support for himself in the early running for the Republican nomination for President.  I doubt he’ll be able to sustain that, but I did enjoy his filibustering tactic.  He is a capable extemporaneous speaker. 

I dislike seeing a former national hero like John McCain diminish his reputation by being the way he is today.  Thanks to his wife, he has sufficient money to be able to hang it up and enjoy what remains of his life, but he is so driven that is highly unlikely.  He’ll hang it up when he is defeated, and, at the rate he is going, that may not be too far into the future.

Lindsey Graham could also find himself in the unemployed politicians’ line if he persists in actions like his of the past few days.  His home state is still a conservative state for the most part.  His whining and sniveling can’t be playing real well back home.

These are two examples of people who have stayed too long inside the Beltway.  They are out-of-touch and ought to be out-of-office.