my goal in life is to become a senator and to break the record strom thurmond held in 1957 of the longest filibuster, 24 hours, 18 minutes. >> host: right. >> caller: and i would be very disappointed if i was unable to meet my goal, and i also think, you know, even if i never became a senator, these people have basically cut off the rights of the minority. it's the tyranny of the majority. and i think i've recently heard a speech by harry reid on your network, and i heard him compare himself to lyndon johnson. ..

i wanted to break strom thurmond's record and filibustering.laughter] [applause] the draft was going to expire at the end of the month, so i wanted to today's, close to 48 hours to break his record. most people don't know -- you a long and those guys used to debate, they're drinking a lot of water and p ride on the floor, right on the senate floor. but i'm a little more culture than that. [laughter] at the doctorsp office and tell them what i've got going on. so he rigs me up with a colostomy bag with with a little hose down to my ankle, and my administrative assistant's job is going to bleed the colostomy bag. [laughter] it gets better than that. i've got to get somebody to chair, because you can control the floor if you don't control the chair. i go to alan cranston, my closest friend. he says, what you need? i said, i've got the pentagon papers. he says, oh my god, my, you need more than help them you got problems. i said, you just get in the chair by 5:00. will turn around and you do stay in that chair as long as i'm filibustering. and that

problems over the years if he just elected a segregationist president when we had the chance with strom thurmond, that was embarrassing and he had to lose his job. in 2007 when ron paul was running for president, in addition to everything else, the newsletters and all the rest of it, he got donations from the clan leader who founded storm front, the nazi white nationalist web forum. that apparently wasn't embarrassing. ron paul did not return those donations and quite avowedly did not feel bad about keeping them. in terms of today's rand paul news, dave weigel reports today the confederate flag mask wearing southern avenger guy, that guy, that reporting on him as a rand paul staffer is not likely to affect his standing or his job in rand paul world. the staffer in question told the "free beacon" today he does not stand by some of the most inflammatory things he said but he believes -- he said he believed in the past but avowedly stood by them back at the time rand paul was hiring him in the first place and having him write his book. so at the micro level there's this unresolved question in repub

south carolina senator strom thurmond set a record in 1957 with his 24 hours and 18 minute long filibusterinst the civil rights act. senator rand paul used the tactic earlier this year to talk about the use of drones. and it was recently used by a texas state senator wendy davis to block an abortion rights restriction bill down there. simply put, filibuster's an attempt to block or delay action. most often used by the minority party to stall a process or prevent a vote. in the '60s senators moved to change the filibuster rules. in the 1970s, the rules were changed again, reducing the number of votes required to end a debate or stop a filibuster from two-thirds or three-fifths or the 60 we now have of the 100 senators. that process of ending the debate is known as cloture. now reid wants to change again. arguing the change is necessary because the body of the senate is not functioning the way it should. during all of bush's two terms, cloture was invoegsed 141 times. cloture doesn't always mean a fila buster but it's the best way senate historians have of keeping track of this issue. senato

when strom thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. we're proud of him.he country to follow our lead we wouldn't have all these problems over all these years, either. >> even rand paul's own comments in 2010 about the public accommodation clause of the 1964 civil rights act. >> would you have voted for the civil rights act of 1964? >> i like the civil rights act in the sense that it ended discrimination in all public domains and i'm all in favor of that. but, you had to ask me. but i don't like the idea of telling private business owners. i think it's a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant, but at the same time, i do believe in private ownership. >> look, this is not a way of saying that everyone in the republican party is a racist or all southern republicans are nursiing grudges. there have been republicans who have grappled head on with their party's post civil rights act tr strategy. far too many republicans who haven't. rand paul said he's not one of them. >>> we'll talk about rand pauls the gop after this. softsprings got bot

now, i had a little bit of ego trip going on here: i wanted to break strom thurmond's record in filibusteringand the draft was going to expire at the end of the month, so i wanted to two days, about close to forty-eight hours, break his record. now, how are you going to do that? most people don't know when huey long and those guys used to debate, what they'd do is - they're drinking a lot of water - they pee right on floor, right on the senate floor. make no mistake about it. but i'm a little more cultured than that. so what i do is i rig myself up. i go to the doctor's office. i tell him what's going on, tell him i'm going to filibuster. and so, he rigs me up with a colostomy bag with a little hose down to my ankle. and my administrative assistant's job is going to bleed the colostomy bag. then, it gets better than that. we now go to - i've got to get somebody to chair, because you can't control the floor if you don't control the chair. so i go to alan cranston, my closest friend. i say, "alan, i need help." "well, what do you need, mike?" "i've got the pentagon papers." "oh, my god, mike! y

again -- >> strom thurmond was -- was not the chairman of the senate committee when justice kagan was confirmed. [laughter] >> very few men -- very few men outlive their own fertility. so i just -- >> a couple where both people are over the age of 55 -- >> i -- >> a couple where both people are over the age of 55. >> and your honor, again, the marital norm which imposes upon that couple the obligation of fidelity -- >> i'm sorry, where is this -- >> i'm sorry, maybe you can finish your answer to justice kagan. >> i'm sorry. >> it's designed, your honor, to make it less likely that either party to that -- to that marriage will engage in irresponsible procreative conduct outside of that marriage. outside of that marriage. that's the marital -- that's the marital norm. society has an interest in seeing a 55-year-old couple that is -- just as it has an interest of seeing any heterosexual couple that intends to engage in a prolonged period of cohabitation to reserve that until they have made a marital commitment, a marital commitment. so that, should that union produce any offspring, it wo

strom thurmond of south carolina with over 16,300. active senator with more votes than senator hatch is vermont.leahy of on reaching the milestone, senate leaders took a moment to mark the occasion. now, mr. president, on calling orrin hatch. orrinxt vote cast will be vote.s 13,000th 13,000 a tremendous accomplishment. the state of utah, the constituents and the united country.nator in our he's this most senior member now his seventh term in the united states senate. before running for the senate, enator hatch received a brigham 's degree from young university, and was in private practice for a number of years. he's a ranking member in the finance committee today as we he made a great reputation or himself and chair of the judiciary committee. and we worked together with him as relatives for many years. he served on the health committee, the joint committee on taxation. eally had a significant impact on the united states senate. he's the member of the board of directors. he's done amazing thingings his whole career. number one accompl

a classic one was of course, strom thurmond and his almost a day-long filibuster on the civil rights. but for those kind of occasions the whole time that lyndon johnson was senate majority leader, the filibuster was used only once. republicans have made it an every day occurrence. they use the filibuster meaning you need 60 votes. used to be 75. they changed it years ago down to 60. republicans use it not just for votes on issues but for procedural matters of course. whether or not they are going to allow a vote on any issue and they use it to block appointments, the president's appointments. it was -- what peter something like 300 400 times they used it last year. >> it was over 300 times last year. >> bill: over 300 times. now once in all the time i think it was 12 years that lyndon johnson was majority leader. once. over 300 times. republicans used it last year. so there is a big clam clamor. remember this. six months ago. little more. in january, the beginning of this term, the senate can, at the beginning of each term, the senate can change the rules of the senate and all you re