Alec MacGillis wishes the press treated Republican debt ceiling recklessness more seriously:
[A] threat to plunge the nation’s into default and with it imperil the nation and world’s economy, seen only a year and a half ago as the political equivalent of a nuclear option, is now viewed as “better political ground.” What to make of this?
The shift in mindset is surely in part a function of basic human nature: our remarkable ability — for good or ill — to adapt ourselves to new realities. More than that, though, it is a function of that far more Beltway-unique tendency, to report and comment on politics and governance as pure gamesmanship in such a way that conveys savvy but not judgment. And if it’s all a sport, who’s to object if one side has radically shifted the goalposts? Good for them, if they can get away with it. And after all, the higher the stakes in the clash, the better the story.
Bouie adds:
There’s something very wrong with Washington journalism when a threat to imperil the global economy is treated like a round of capture-the-flag.
This is what happens when the “conservative party” is in fact the revolutionary one – eschewing tradition, settled procedure, and institutional protection in favor of partisan ideological vandalism.
The Dish 