Deadbeat Nation

Hoo boy! Republicans drove up the debt under George Walker Bush, they put on a credit card two wars Barack Obama is trying to end on a credit card, and now they're refusing to raise the debt ceiling without deep spending cuts hurting the poor and the middle class while leaving tax breaks for the rich alone?

If they win control of both houses of Congress next year, it will be by numbers - the hard numbers that force the Democrats to defend more Senate seats and try to win back the house in the face of GOP-friendly re-apportionment - and by numbers only.

But then, if the Republicans drive America into default, they will demonstrate to independents, as David Brooks wrote in the New York Times, that they're not fit to govern. Which means there will be a silver lining if America defaults on its debts and all hell breaks loose in the international markets come August 2. This could mean that the country will be a red nation in terms of budget ink but not Republicanism.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan says he doesn't want America to go the way of Greece. that could very well happen if his party brings debt ceiling talks to the form of brinkmanship.