The art of the filibuster: How do you talk for 24 hours straight?

[Evil Eye]

The time-wasting speech known as the filibuster could make a comeback in US politics. How can anyone talk for an entire day?



You stand up before your colleagues, clear your throat and prepare to speak. Through the night. Non-stop.



Perhaps you've brought a packed lunch. You might have some phone books to read aloud, too, in case you run out of things to say.



And you've no doubt thought very carefully about what to do when you need to visit the toilet.



Filibustering - a delaying tactic in a parliament, typically whereby lawmakers drag out speeches to the end of the allocated time, so that no vote can be held - is one of the oddest quirks of democratic politics the world over.



Distinguished elected representatives have been seen engaging in truly epic feats of time-wasting in an effort to slow down or block legislation.



The most spectacular examples have come from the US Senate, where in 1935 Louisiana Democrat Huey Long tried to scupper a bill by rambling for more than 15 hours, reciting recipes for Roquefort salad dressing and discussing in detail the best way to fry oysters.



Twenty-two years later, the veteran South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, set a record by filibustering a civil rights bill for 24 hours and 18 minutes, reading aloud the voting laws of each US state and quoting George Washington's farewell address in its entirety.

Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20672974

So, what's the longest speech you've ever given?

 

[DrLeftover]

I work with some people who can talk that much.

 

[TommyTooter]

i rarely am given more than a few minutes to speak before i get shouted down.



nobody i know of has ever filibustered alone for 24 hours straight. everett dirksen, a republican senator for illinois is the most notoriously long-winded politician i know of. i'll go look and see what his most notable filibuster was.



in 1993, at the kentucky vision council of the rainbow family, there was a faction determined to block consensus on anything other than where they wanted to gather the next year. they kept the block up almost a week without break. it became a matter of who had the most endurance.

 

[Jazzy]

My friend would have no problem talking for 24 hours or even longer. She can talk about NOTHING and no one can get a word in. She's called me on the phone. I have put the phone down, folded and put away clothes only to come back and she was still going on and on. She had no clue I left the phone for over 45 minutes.

 

[DrLeftover]

You may want to listen to a speech by Nebulous Biden.



No, he's never talked for twenty four hours, it just seems like it.

 

[Evil Eye]

in 1993, at the kentucky vision council of the rainbow family, there was a faction determined to block consensus on anything other than where they wanted to gather the next year. they kept the block up almost a week without break. it became a matter of who had the most endurance.

There's something very wrong about that being a valid strategy...

She had no clue I left the phone for over 45 minutes.

 

[TommyTooter]

There's something very wrong about that being a valid strategy...

ya think? there's certainly no real consensus if one faction just filibusters until everybody else goes away.



here's the five longest fillibusters in senate history. i was surprised not to find everett dirksen on the list. he was famed for being long winded.



http://usgovinfo.abo...Filibusters.htm

 

[Evil Eye]

Has anyone ever died doing that?

 

[DrLeftover]

Talking or Listening to them talk?

 

[Evil Eye]

Either I guess.