Ezra Klein on the debt battle:
Whichever party wins, the country is likely to lose. If the Republicans win, we’re going to get an unbalanced debt deal that relies too heavily on frontloaded spending cuts, forgoes tax hikes that could further reduce the deficit, and rewards a reckless and dysfunctional model of negotiating through brinksmanship. If the Democrats win, we’re likely to see some sort of crisis before we see any sort of action, and this isn’t an economy or market that can handle much more bad news. Heads, dysfunction. Tails, catastrophe.
I disagree on one major point. Both scenarios are a Republican win. The Democrats lose either way. If the latter scenario happens, the Democrats will have an uphill battle in 2012 due to the "bad news" -- along with the rest of us who will suffer through another potential economic crisis.
And of course this is the Republican plan. This is why they brought it up at a time when the debt and deficit ought to take a back seat to stimulating jobs and economic growth. They calculated a win/win. It's been one big Trojan Horse virus planted inside the national discourse.