DeMint May Filibuster Debt Ceiling Vote

The Hill reports:

A top conservative senator on Thursday indicated he is willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent a vote on raising the debt ceiling, even if it hurts the Republican Party politically.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said on the conservative Laura Ingraham Show that he is considering filibustering an upcoming vote on raising the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit, should it not contain other fiscal reforms.

When asked if that would serve as the GOP's "Waterloo" in the 2012 elections, the senator replied, "If it is, then let it be."

That could pose a conundrum for leaders in both political parties, who say that it is important for Congress to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the government from defaulting on its debt.

DeMint's remarks evoke his mantra from the last electoral, when pledged to make the Democrats' healthcare law President Obama's "Waterloo," the ultimate defeat of 19th century French leader Napoleon Bonaparte.

"If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo, it will break him,” DeMint said in the summer of 2009.