Politico reports that Biden let loose a classic Biden-ism:
Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit, according to several sources in the room. Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.
But Biden denies he called Republicans terrorists. I did though with a modifier – "economic terrorism" and stand by it. The right is apoplectic, perhaps because their favorite rhetorical tool is getting borrowed by the other team. Benen recounts how the Tea-Partiers started comparing themselves to terrorists first:
Let’s also not forget the rhetoric from congressional Republicans themselves. Last year, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he could “empathize” with a terrorist who flew an airplane into a building on American soil. The year prior, shortly after President Obama’s inauguration, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said if the Democratic majority didn’t allow Republicans to influence policy debates, the GOP would have to emulate the “insurgency” tactics of “the Taliban.” Sessions, a member of the Republican leadership, added, “[W]e need to understand that insurgency may be required,” and that if Democrats resist, Republicans “will then become an insurgency.” The Taliban, he went on to say, offer the GOP a tactical “model.”
Exum tests the comparison against the definition of terrorism as "the threat of physical coercion, primarily against noncombatants, especially civilians, to create fear in order to achieve various political objectives" and concludes it comes up short. Juan Cole sees coercion as the centerpoint of the Tea Party negotiating tactic.
The Dish 