But We?re Superinnocent

What we?re supposed to hear, and hear, and hear, is that Democrats didn?t care as much about reducing the deficit as the GOP did, that they were obsessed with hiking taxes, and that they wanted the whole shebang to fail to prove a point. The reason Republicans keep saying this, as Jonathan Chait explains, is that it looks to most people like they triggered the supercollapse because they wouldn?t deal on taxes. Sen. Tom Coburn?s mega-compromise, the nucleus of a ?Gang of Six? deal that would raise some taxes while cutting spending, got nowhere. The ?grand bargain? that Speaker John Boehner flirted with in the summer, the one that could have averted the debt crisis, couldn?t pass a Republican Congress. A Gallup poll about the failure had voters blaming the GOP by a 3-to-2 margin (all voters) or a 2-to-1 margin (independents).

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=d17d1a7f684f7072552b556c4b24e5c5

michelle obama booed at nascar polio cutler jay cutler duke basketball natalie wood christina aguilera