Rand Paul Speech Suckers Me In With Its Arguments and Oratory

I'm a sucker for really good, persuasive oratory.  That's why, during the week in the late mornings and early afternoon you'll often find my television tuned in to C-Span2 (Gainesville's Cox Channel 81), which broadcasts live the United States Senate floor proceedings.  Although, as a governing body, the Senate is generally painfully slow at getting anything done, the senators often provide very illuminating information about their sides of the various issues about which they are debating.  Take the upcoming vote on the renewal of the Patriot Act...

On Wednesday afternoon, I happened to have the Senate on my TV and the floor was given to Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul to speak...and he spoke...and he spoke...and he spoke...his topic was the Patriot Act and his opposition to what he sees as its violations of our U.S. Constitution, especially of the Fourth and Ninth Amendments.  His arguments were legitimate and persuasive.  I had to stop watching after about one hour of his speech because I had to go on to work, but I was interested in how the conservative and liberal evening opinion shows would cover it. As it turned out, Paul's speech, which I was astounded to discover, went on for more than ten hours, and was an opening topic for both FoxNews's right wing Hannity show and  MSNBC's left wing The Last Word, hosted by Laurence O'Donnell.  And both parties actually were very respectful of Senator Paul and his arguments.   Today, on C-Span2, I watched as Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, nowhere nearly as elegant an orator as is Rand Paul, nevertheless presented a convincing counterargument  to the Kentucky senator's position.   I came away from the experience as I often do with these types of debates, with the conviction that I have a tendency to be swayed by good oratory, even when it contradicts common sense that I hold dear to me.  Do you, my faithful reader, want to hear my views about privacy and the Patriot Act?  That's easy enough, just let me know...I'm on Facebook, after all...