On the recordJanuary 5, 2011
The distinguished Senator from Oregon, Mr. Merkley, showed a photograph a little while ago of Jimmy Stewart in ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'' That has become the sort of emblematic, signature demonstration of the American Senate filibuster. There is a scene in that movie that I am sure the Senator is familiar with where a reporter is up in the galleries and is describing the action down here on the Senate floor, is describing Jimmy Stewart--the Senator he represents engaging in the filibuster. The reporter describes the filibuster as ``democracy's finest show . . . the right to talk your head off . . . the American privilege of free speech in its most dramatic form . . . one lone and single American holding the greatest floor in the land . . . bleary-eyed, voice gone.'' That is what we think of when we think of the traditional Senate filibuster. In those days, you stood up and you filibustered against a bill because you were opposed to it, because you hated it, because on principle you wanted to stand and fight against it.
