Reply #6: Indirectly Last December...

[KharmaTrain]

The last "grind 'em out...read the phone book" filibuster I can recall was Strom Thurmond during the debates over the 1964 Voting rights bill.

To keep boooshie from passing any recess appointments, the Democratic leadership kept the Senate in session on breaks...in essence doing a mini Filibuster as it blocked booooshie from sneaking John Bolton back to blow up the UN.

The rules of the Senate have changed...it used to be 2/3rds to bring cloture but is now 3/5ths or the "magic" 60. It was a lot tougher to shut down a vocal minority with 66 than with 60. So the parties came up with other ways to play games...legislative holds and bogging bills down in committee or with endless ammendments. Not only is Reid scared of filibusters, he shies away from many issues where he knows McChinless and his cohorts will try to gum things up with all sorts of tricks.

The threats are usually nothing more than red meat for the partisans. It makes a Senator sound "strong" when they huff and puff, but then they all go out for drinkie drinkies...it's just a big boy's club.