Bernie Sanders goes to Washington. Actual filibuster in action. SEVEN hours and counting!

Jimmy Stewart ain't got nothing on Bernie Sanders. Must see TV here. What an amazing performance from an amazing politician.

About three hours ago, just as he took the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) staff, tweeted: "You can call what i am doing today whatever you want, you it [sic] call it a filibuster, you can call it a very long speech..."

And he's been speaking, almost uninterrupted, ever since.

It's a filibuster as filibusters were originally intended -- and, as such, makes a mockery of what the filibuster's become: a gimmick that allows a minority of senators to quietly impose supermajority requirements on any piece of legislation.

Curiously, although Sanders has been discussing Arianna Huffington's book Third World America at length in his speech, his filibuster has yet to be reported at Huffington Post. Weird. UPDATE: Finally on HuffPo but buried on Politics page. Weirder still. UPPERDATE: Now on front page, five hours late.

UPDATE: Think Progress notes this is technically not a filibuster.