Silent and talking filibusters

[Neal Whitman]

I wrote a short piece for TheWeek.com on Gricean Q and R and "talking
filibusters", as opposed to "silent
filibusters:"*http://theweek.com/article/index/241119/a-brief-history-of-the-phrase-talking-filibuster*

The earliest attestation I've found is from February of that year
(ProQuest):

    Bring on the Filibuster
    Geoghegan, Thomas. The Nation 290.7
    <http://search.proquest.com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/Geoghegan,+Thomas/$N?accountid=1060>(Feb
    22, 2010): 3.
    Abstract (summary)

    ... Right now, the Senate operates under a supermajority rule that
    the founders never intended and that has no precedent in the way the
    Senate used to operate. The problem is not the old-fashioned
    "talking filibuster" but the absence of the filibuster:



The earliest attestation I have for SF with its current meaning of
"filibuster by means of threatening to filibuster" is from 2003:

    CONGRESS Senate softies: [CITY Edition]
    *Florida Times Union***
    <http://search.proquest.com.webproxy3.columbuslibrary.org/pubidlinkhandler/sng/pubtitle/Florida+Times+Union/$N/45108/DocView/414346604/fulltext/13CB19FC4FD5654A547/2?accountid=1060> [Jacksonville,
    Fla] 14 Sep 2003: D.2.
    ...
    Republicans couldn't garner the 60 percent majority needed to force
    a vote and, after 28 months in limbo, Estrada stepped aside.

    The Republicans even allowed a silent filibuster, so that the
    Democrats wouldn't have to work too hard.


Neal

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