Nicole Gelinas identifies TARP as a source of GOP intransigence:
Tea Party freshmen and their supporters hold this establishment in contempt. Implicitly invoking TARP, as Pelosi did when she mentioned a stock-market crash, won't scare them; it will only embolden them. It would be one thing if Tea Party adherents merely believed that a default wouldn't spell disaster; in that event, the GOP freshmen would figure out the truth soon enough. The problem is that many Tea Partiers consider TARP such a terrible idea that they would have chosen to brave a worse financial disaster instead.
Today, they think that a market cataclysm would be better than another "sellout" vote. House veteran and GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann set the pace in last month's GOP presidential debate: "I fought behind closed doors against my own party on TARP. It was a wrong vote then. It's continued to be a wrong vote since then." As the defeat of Utah senator Bob Bennett in 2010 showed, party voters are unforgiving of Republicans who supported TARP. A debt-hike vote will follow Republican candidates in their primaries next year.
The Dish 