Dirty Dozen: 12 Senate Republicans Who Voted to Silence Ted Cruz on Debt Ceiling

Everyone knew that the debt-ceiling deal would pass through the Senate on Wednesday. Even Ted Cruz had to know it. As soon as the House passed the deal on Tuesday, the writing was on the wall.

Even so, Ted Cruz promised to fight for America once again and filibuster the legislation. Would that have changed things? More than likely it would not have changed the vote. But Ted Cruz is the voice of a lot of Americans who are fed up with the Washington D.C. "business as usual" crowd. Evidently tee times and the beltway bar scene are more important than listening to the voice of an elected representative, because 12 republicans turned on Ted Cruz Wednesday including his own Texas sidekick, John Cornyn.

This morning I feel like my own tongue was cut out, because there are few in the Senate who speak for me and Ted Cruz is one of them.

The Senate vote for cloture passed 67-31 and could not have passed without republican votes. 60 votes were needed. These are the 12 who voted to silence Ted Cruz as reported by The Hill:

The Republicans who voted in favor of ending debate were McConnell, Cornyn, Hatch, McCain, Corker and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John Barasso (Wyo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Thune (S.D.). Thune and Barasso are also members of leadership.

Lindsey Graham did not vote for cloture, but chose to shoot his mouth off anyway. In defense of McConnell, Graham was quoted as saying, "I think people understood that he is not for raising the debt ceiling without something attached. Obviously, that was impossible after the House voted for a clean increase. Hopefully the other people voting with him helps and hopefully people see it as an act of pragmatic leadership."

More "blame game" politics. Despicable.

I don't argue that it is partially true but there is plenty of blame to go around in both chambers.

I for one just want to see my elected servants do what is right by their constituents. If that means that Ted Cruz beats his head against a brick wall and talks for another 22 hours then that is fine with me. Why? Because he speaks for me. He speaks for America. He speaks for fiscal responsibility.

Most patriotic Americans understand that the deck is stacked now. But that doesn't mean that we don't want to see our representatives fight for what is right.

This is a big deal. We are giving our government an open checkbook and guaranteeing ourselves even faster rising debt.

How many more band-aids are we going to put on before we admit that the system is broken and needs a complete overhaul?

Does something need to be done? Yes.

But our legislators are acting like they don't have time to be bothered with a discussion of real ideas. Many republicans are bowing to the rule of the other party now. Voting for cloture is a funny thing because it gives a lot of republicans a perceived "out." But Americans are not stupid.

Twelve republicans and 55 others (2 independents and 53 democrats) voted to "hurry up and rush the vote" by a margin of 67-31.

Then the republicans sought to redeem themselves when the actual budget ceiling deal passed by a margin of 55-43. Every republican voted NO.

What does that tell you?

It tells me that there is a defeatist attitude that needs to be purged from the Republican Party. Let's hurry up and vote and by no means discuss this. We can vote "no" later and that covers us. Is that the responsible way to act? You throw in the towel but make sure you are on record as a dissenting opinion?

Again, not all Americans are not that stupid.

We are taking notes.

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