Ezra Klein sounds defeated over the debt ceiling:
[I]n the absence of a deal on the table, the parties are moving to the sort of policies they'd prefer if they didn't have to make a deal at all, which are also the sort of policies their bases will prefer. As their bases come to like the new positions better and demand their legislators stop wavering and rewarding the other side's insane negotiating posture, it'll get tougher and tougher for either group to seriously return to the table.
The Dish 