# 3/31/2025: Sen. Cory Booker has embarked on a filibuster **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 31, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430 "2025-03-31T23:43:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/41 "2025-04-02T13:58:43Z")
I think that was my point. At this time in history, they need one. Although I will say, when Obama was running in 2008 (after the primaries were over), it sure felt like there was something magical happening. Like you were either on Team Obama, or you were on the losing side of history. That needs to happen now x10, because Team Right is unironically talking about putting their Mockingjay on Mt. Rushmore and money. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/42 "2025-04-02T14:34:06Z")
Republican pollster Frank Luntz sure seems to think Booker’s act was inspiring and a BFD [https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5227463-cory-booker-senate-record/](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5227463-cory-booker-senate-record/) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/43 "2025-04-02T14:48:52Z")
I’m happy he did it, and so forcefully, and pushed the old racist off the record books. But, this will be buried under the avalanche of bullshit flooding the zone in a day. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/44 "2025-04-02T15:03:30Z")
All the reports that I can find seem to say that he was complaining about government cuts and economic hardship. So far as Fox News would be concerned, that’s just proof of success. So long as the Democrats are focused on government cuts and not corruption and Constitutional violations, they’re going to continue to fail to see their fortunes rise much. Waiting for the other guy to fail so hard that you win by forfeit ain’t a great plan. Change and become better. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/45 "2025-04-02T15:08:13Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I just read this on the NPR site: > > > His aides set up a bucket in the cloakroom so he could keep a foot on the Senate floor if he needed to relieve himself. > > [Cory Booker sets Senate record with anti-Trump speech : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5347318/cory-booker-senate-speech) To be clear to anyone not reading the article, that quote is referring to Strom Thurmond, not Booker. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/46 "2025-04-02T15:13:31Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So long as the Democrats are focused on government cuts and not corruption and Constitutional violations, they’re going to continue to fail to see their fortunes rise much. Waiting for the other guy to fail so hard that you win by forfeit ain’t a great plan. He was standing there with a bookmarked copy of the constitution. I’m sure over 25 hours he did point out violations. He referred to it many times in the few hours I watched. He also did a lot of yelling at the rest of Congress to do better. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/47 "2025-04-02T15:33:32Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So long as the Democrats are focused on government cuts and not corruption and Constitutional violations, they’re going to continue to fail to see their fortunes rise much. I disagree. Focusing on the government services taxpayers are losing is what Democrats should be focusing on. The previous election saw how little economic pain Americans are willing to tolerate. Describing the economic pain Republicans are causing is exactly what is needed for Democrats to focus on. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/48 "2025-04-02T15:45:27Z")
An interesting opinion piece on this: - [Cory Booker’s 25-Hour Speech Was a Stunt. It Worked.](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-04-02/cory-booker-s-25-hour-speech-was-a-stunt-it-worked?srnd=phx-opinion) - Bloomberg > _Do something_. This was former First Lady Michelle Obama’s [exhortation to Democrats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kwra-_8IfI) last summer. It is now the collective demand of average Democrats despairing over the seeming inaction of their leaders. Into the breach jumped New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, once a young and up-and-coming phenom, and now a future senior statesman in a party that seems eager for new leadership. Over 25 hours, Booker [broke the floor speech record](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-01/cory-booker-s-attack-on-trump-sets-record-for-longest-senate-speech) long held by Senator Strom Thurmond, who bellowed for a day to block civil rights legislation in 1957. > > More importantly Booker, 55, gave Democrats life, effectively making the case that he should lead their party in the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/49 "2025-04-02T15:56:17Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I disagree. Focusing on the government services taxpayers are losing is what Democrats should be focusing on. The previous election saw how little economic pain Americans are willing to tolerate. Describing the economic pain Republicans are causing is exactly what is needed for Democrats to focus on. I concur entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/50 "2025-04-02T16:16:23Z")
Especially now that Republicans are trotting out the “Trump tariffs/DOGE cuts may cause some economic pain for a while” line like they expect people to just suck it up, when this is obviously _not_ what people voted for Trump for. Democrats need to be all over that. (But I’m not going to hold my breath.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/51 "2025-04-02T18:29:33Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Republican pollster Frank Luntz sure seems to think Booker’s act was inspiring and a BFD Republican: “That thing you Democrats just did? That was great, do more of that.” 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/52 "2025-04-02T18:46:51Z")
He’s a well-known messaging strategist and no friend of Trump. Go ahead and ignore him if you’d like, it’s no skin off my ass, but there’s value in reading his take on what Booker did. There’s value in reading and understanding multiple views. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/53 "2025-04-02T19:25:57Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > > I just read this on the NPR site: > > > > > His aides set up a bucket in the cloakroom so he could keep a foot on the Senate floor if he needed to relieve himself. > > > > [Cory Booker sets Senate record with anti-Trump speech : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/01/nx-s1-5347318/cory-booker-senate-speech) > > To be clear to anyone not reading the article, that quote is referring to Strom Thurmond, not Booker. I humbly apologize for that total screw-up on my part. Here’s the rest of the article: > … > Similar questions abounded about Booker’s well-being on Tuesday, especially after he alluded to some “biological urgencies” toward the end of his speech. > > His communications director, Jeff Giertz, [told NPR](https://x.com/cgrisales/status/1907209971181232508)just before the end of the speech that Booker was not wearing a catheter or a diaper, despite speculation. > > Booker told reporters afterward that he had fasted for days before the speech and stopped drinking water “a long time ago.” > > “I think that had good and bad benefits,” he said, sounding hoarse. “I definitely started cramping up from lack of water … There’s just a lot of tactics I was using to try to make sure that I could stand for that long.” ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430/54 "2025-04-02T19:31:19Z")
I saw an interview that asked if he was using an adult diaper. He kinda dodged the question (suggested he did not have one but was vague about it). I think it is fine if he did use one. It’s not against the rules. If I were to try a 25 hour filibuster I certainly would be wearing one. Zero shame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-31-2025-sen-cory-booker-has-embarked-on-a-filibuster/1016430.md?page=2)