From a “senior GOP lawmaker,” explaining why Republicans are OK with touching off financial Armageddon by refusing to raise the debt ceiling:
Who has egg on their face if there is a sovereign debt crisis, House Republicans or the president?
I guess the optimistic take here is that Republicans are just playing the negotiation game really well. The pessimistic take is that they really believe this and think the political benefits outweigh the damage a debt crisis would do to the United States. I’m not really sure which it is anymore. I used to be an optimist, but that attitude is getting a lot harder to sustain these days.