As part of Sen. Ted Cruz's anti-ObamaCare talkathon—which he has vowed to keep up until he can no longer stand—he read the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham, to his daughters. "Daddy's going to be home soon, to read to you in person," he promised the girls, who were watching at home on C-SPAN. This means the story will forever be in the Senate record, notes Business Insider. But his marathon session has gone well past bedtime; he started at 2:41pm yesterday and has passed the 18-hour mark (in the 7am ET hour, Marco Rubio was helping him out—as long as Cruz stays standing, he can yield to other senators' questions).
ABC News reports that Cruz took the 2013 record for longest speech of the year from Rand Paul around 3:33am today (Paul's time: 12 hours and 52 minutes), and the Washington Post notes that there are only four "historical filibusters" longer than his speech (No. 1 on the list: Strom Thurmond, 1957; 24 hours, 18 min). Note that it's not the record for longest filibuster—Cruz's speech technically isn't one because his talking won't prevent the Senate from holding its first procedural vote of this spending bill at 1pm today. Quips Politico, "In other words, it’s all over save for the theatrics." Among the other theatrics, per ABC and MSNBC:
- Cruz quoted from country singer Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."
- He also referenced Duck Dynasty: "Jeff said 'Faith, family and facial hair.' I point out to the junior senator from Utah, if we continue doing this long enough, we may have facial hair on the floor of the Senate."
- And he quoted from another kids' book, The Little Engine That Could: "The train going up that said over and over again, 'I think I can, I think I can. I think I can.' You know, if you listen to a lot of the members of this body, the message would be simple: that little engine can't."
- He also referenced Ashton Kutcher and White Castle ("I like their little burgers").
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