John Boehner’s press secretary, Michael Steel, just sent out a link to this Bloomberg article predicting catastrophic fallout from a US debt default with this message attached: “Folks – This really, really sounds like something Washington Democrats ought to talk to somebody about avoiding. Maybe that’s just me. – steel”
To truly understand the role of the press in enabling the current crisis, you really need to see this exchange …
because Dem base is demanding that govt stay open and Treasury not default? @rickklein
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) October 7, 2013
Here’s the full story.
TPM Reader AC has a disturbing, thought-provoking suggestion, one based on personal experience …
In a week full of super-heated and violent rhetoric, with talk of metaphorical guns being held to the collective head of the body politic, civil wars and the like, the actions of the House of Representatives have been deemed suicidal with some frequency. Representative Devin Nunes of California likened some of his colleagues to “lemmings with suicide vests.” Charles Krauthammer and The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza have both used the term “suicide caucus” to describe the GOP’s nihilists. White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer likened them to “people with a bomb strapped to their chest.” And so on.