Rand Paul's "Filibuster" Has Ended

Rand ended his takeover of the Senate floor after only 10 1/2 hours. Stand with Rand has turned into go to sleep like Rand.

Politico observes:

By carrying his talk-a-thon to the brink of Thursday, Paul prevented Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from filing cloture on a bill to extend or reform the PATRIOT Act.

But it’s not clear that McConnell ever intended to — so it’s uncertain whether Paul truly gummed up McConnell’s plan. And with the House set to depart Thursday, a Senate surveillance vote while House lawmakers are still in town was unlikely anyway...

His decision to speak while the Senate was still dealing with a trade bill, in some ways, gives Paul the best of both worlds: commanding the Senate stage for hours on end without antagonizing the Republican leader from his home state — who has been a key ally — or jeopardizing his colleagues’ vacation plans.

Asked whether it’s better that Paul was giving his speech now rather than later in the week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) smiled and said, “Yes.”

“He’s doing fine,” Cornyn said. “We’ll see how long he goes.”

He went only until  11:48 p.m.. (He started at  1:18 p.m.).

 -RW