Boehner holds the key to debt limit talks

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposed Plan B for raising the debt ceiling — a classically congressional solution to a problem in that it accomplishes little but to shift accountability away from the legislative branch — is a terrible idea. It is terrible substantively, because it allows Washington to avoid any hard decisions about getting its fiscal situation under control, and it's terrible politically because it is a Trojan horse for President Barack Obama and a poison pill for tea party Republicans. The fact that it may soon seem like the best option is a testament to how close to the brink the nation has been driven by the culture of irrationality that has gripped a large swath of the Republican Party.

July 14, 2011