"Reading accounts of internal Republican deliberations is like reading histories of World War I or Vietnam. A second problem is that a minority of conservatives pressured Boehner into shutting down the government, against the urgent pleas of a large segment of movement conservatives. But the right's divisions over the shutdown fight have given way to near unanimity over the debt-ceiling fight. Conservative discourse on the debt ceiling is a chorus of cheering belligerence. I've seen no conservatives consider the possibility that Democrats actually believe their stated position, which is that giving in to debt-ceiling extortion would pave the way for endless future extortion and an eventual debt breach. They assert over and over that Democrats will fold, and seem to believe this. Some Republicans do feel compelled to pretend that their debt-ceiling extortion scheme is standard practice. The Daily Caller digs deep into the historical record to excavate previous examples of Congress using the debt ceiling to extract concessions; Dave Weigel demolishes that as myth. Paul Ryan, reprising his role as spokesman for fresh-faced earnest wonkery, insists the debt ceiling is nothing more than a swell way to bring folks together. Like a parade!"
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