Down To The Wire: It's The TEA Party's Fault

Yes indeed, the debt ceiling not having been lifted to penultimate heights via a bill brought by the Demorats to completely uncap spending and uncap taxes is, you see, the fault of the TEA Party.

So sayeth John McCain:

The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt ceiling, a default crisis or gradual government shutdown will ensue, and the public will turn en masse against . . . . Barack Obama," McCain said, quoting the Wall Street Journal article. "The Republican House that failed to raise the debt ceiling would somehow escape all blame. Then Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced-budget amendment and reform entitlements, and the tea-party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor."

"This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell into GOP Senate nominees," McCain added, still reading from the article.

Speaker Boehner's version 2.0 bill is the one that the bulk of the Old GOP Court is pushing. The New Court GOP fuzzies are not rolling over for it. Because of this, Mr Boehner has told those newbies, "get your ass in line." That is a direct quote.

But it is now a moot point insofar as 53 Demorats sent word to Speaker Boehner that his budget proposal won't pass the floor of the Senate today, Thursday (I wrote this on Wednesday afternoon). As in, purposely won't pass the Senate. By them. The Demorats. So now who is an obstructionist and who doesn't play well in terms of bi-partisanship and compromise?

Demorats and, of course, The New York Times, say that Mr Obama should simply raise the debt ceiling unilaterally, all by himself.

What bill, if any, should the GOP embrace? What tactics would you recommend? Allow the debt ceiling to be slightly extended if there are no tax hikes whatsoever?

You thoughts?

BZ