Rand Paul Filibusters for Twelve Hours, Wins 1

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If you haven’t heard already, Rand Paul launched a 12 hour and 52 minute filibuster this past Wednesday as a message to the White House. He was filibustering the nomination of John Brennan, for the position of CIA Director. If you’ve ever seen Brennan, you would think he already is the head of the CIA as well as every other secret organization in the world:

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Photo by Robert Huffstutter

This is just his portrait photo, imagine him in an interrogation.

Paul Gets What He Wants

Well as it turns out, Rand Paul didn’t as much have a problem with Brennan, as he did with the idea that the White House had not explicitly come out and said whether the federal government has a right to execute citizens with drones while in non-combat positions. The White House responded to the request and Eric Holder sent this reply to Rand Paul on Thursday:

It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: "Does the
President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in
combat on American soil?" The answer to that question is no.

It is an unorthodox tactic to actually filibuster these days, as just the threat of filibuster usually shuts down the voting process in the Senate. Rand Paul’s transcript can be found here, but it is not recommended to read them. Not many people are interesting when they talk for over 12 hours, and Rand Paul is not one of them. For a more interesting look, the first couple minutes of the video are pretty bizarre:

McCain and Graham Respond

Other senators were not especially happy with Rand Paul’s performance, notably the new power-couple John McCain and Lindsey Graham. They took to the Senate floor to admonish Paul on his abuse of the filibuster, but under the surface it was probably also an on the record response speaking to the control of the Senate. Ever since the Tea Party started gaining seats in congress, some old time Republicans such as McCain and Graham have criticized them on the unprocedural nature with which they conduct themselves. With scare tactics such as the one Paul pulled Wednesday, it is hard to blame McCain and Graham for acting such a way, but it is also nice to see a senator actually have to do a filibuster instead of just making threats.

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