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That is apparently what "filibuster" means to the likes of John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Schumer, Durbin, etc. It's a fairly painless way to prove that you're the loyal political factotum of the radical feminist, anti-war and mostly anti-Bush groups who have all the money. If you're career was based on your name, or your liberal bonafides, you wouldn't want them to think you've sold out. Of course, being feckless doesn't seem to bother them. They have all kinds of money and don't seem to think they have to persuade anybody, so if you act like you're as nuts as Kos, et al., the hope is that they'll keep giving you money. You'd think they'd be realizing that they're getting very little in the way of results and start trying to find other ways to make their dollars accomplish something, but then, if they were pragmatic, they'd be conservatives.

Conservatives on the other hand, have to be as pure as Caesar's wife. Tom Delay began to resemble a moral Al Capone when his justification became "The Democrats do it all the time." What he failed to remember is that the Democrats are in the minority and they have the MSM on their side. Two things can destroy a person in politics: money and the "friends" who give him money. It's those sweet "little" perks that annoy voters who aren't millionaires. They see a Congressman playing at celebrity golf tournaments and think, "I can't do that. Why does he get to?" The free trips, the banquets and dinners, the sky boxes, etc. may seem just friendliness to you, but we out here in the unwashed masses see it as selling your vote to that guy in the black trench coat and broad-brim hat. Washington D.C. is not Peoria and it's sure as heck not Orangeville, Utah.