[...] Actual all night filibusters are pretty much for show - for example, the Democrats staging an all night discussion of the war in Iraq, or the Republicans wanting to highlight Democratic delays of Bush's judicial nominees. But the key reason for the development of the current practice is that forcing a "traditional filibuster" is a lot harder on the majority than on the filibusterer. It only takes one person to "suggest the absence of a quorum" and object to a request that the quorum requirement be lifted. It takes 51 Senators to make a quorum and force someone to debate. That's why the frequent calls to "make them really filibuster!" don't make a lot of sense. As for Coburn's threat to force the 2,000 page bill to be read, that became not much of a threat when Reid set things up to have the vote on the motion to proceed before Thanksgiving and start debate afterwards. The bill would only have to be read after the motion to proceed is adopted and Reid lays down his amendment, which means everyone could just go home and the only people who would be working would be the bill clerks doing the reading, the floor staff, one Senator to preside - plus Coburn (or someone in cahoots with him) would have had to stay on the floor to object to periodic requests from the Chair to waive the bill reading. So by forcing the reading, Coburn would put his own and his cohorts Thanksgiving Dinner in jeopardy, but not anyone else's.