The most recent analog to what Ted Cruz is doing on the Senate floor was the nearly nine-hour floor speech Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) gave in December 2010 to protest the extension of the Bush tax cuts. That wasn’t a filibuster either — notwithstanding the title of the subsequent book version of Sanders’ speech.

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The federal auction of ex-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s stuff, which was cancelled last week after TPM raised questions about it, was just a great big mess. Here’s the latest.

Cruz pre-negotiated terms of his fake filibuster with Reid.

This is the Communications Director for Freedom Works, one of the groups spearheading this debacle …

@ericdkoch I guess sometimes you have to beat the entrenched Republicans before you can beat the Democrats….

— FreedomDork (@JackieBodnar) September 24, 2013

A TPM reader with a Wyoming background offers this analysis of Lynne Cheney’s reported confrontation with former Sen. Alan Simpson (R) for not backing Liz Cheney’s Senate candidacy: Read More

Cruz likens Obamacare defunding skeptics to Nazi appeasers. Watch.

Ted Cruz is reportedly about to take to the Senate floor for what can most charitably be called a mock filibuster. We’re still sorting out the particulars, but it appears that under the rules governing the Senate’s current debate, on the continuing resolution that would either defund Obamacare or shutdown the government, a true talking filibuster is not permitted.

Cruz may be able to talk for quite a while, but it’s not a filibuster. The technical term for it is … grandstanding. You can watch here.

Late Update: Cruz began speaking at approximately 2:41 p.m. ET., announcing that he would continue “until I am no longer able to stand.” Read More

It’s such a critical document that I wanted to republish in full the 1993 Kristol memo on defeating health care reform. (Here’s how it looked at the time on letterhead.) Both for now and for future reference. It’s the primary document I referenced in the post below on why Republicans are fighting so hard on Obamacare.

Full text after the jump. Read More

We are now witnessing what is presumably one of final, antic, dying twilight struggle efforts to kill Obamacare before its full roll out next month. We also continue to see an unprecedented effort to sabotage implementation of the plan at the state level. Not just most Republican governors refusing to participate in the law’s various components – that’s their legal right in most cases. But actually getting down to the grassroots level and organizing efforts to prevent people from learning how the program works. But it’s worth stepping back for a moment and refocusing on why the stakes seem so high to many Republicans. Read More