Funny, that's not how I remember it at all. It was the Tea Party that was telling us it was no big deal if we defaulted, that it was all Democratic 'scare tactics'. Remember the infamous Michelle Bachmann speech? Your analysis still doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

Don't shoot the messenger. Apparently I'm not the only one to see this. Of course, that don't mean its necessarily true, just that there are different ways of interpreting the same facts.

'...it's difficult to escape the conclusion that America's credit rating was intentionally sabotaged by Congressional Republicans.'

It has long been obvious to all observers -- to economists, to politicians, to anti-deficit groups, to the ratings agencies -- that closing fiscal gaps will require tax increases, or the closure of big tax loopholes, or significant tax reform that will raise significantly larger sums of tax revenue than the system does now. Today, taxes as a percentage of GDP are at historic lows. Marginal rates on income and investments are at historic lows. Corporate tax receipts as a percentage of GDP are at historic lows. Perhaps taxes don't need to rise this year or next, but they do need to go up in the future.'

'Otherwise, the math of deficit reduction simply doesn't work. And that's how the deficit reduction deals signed off on by Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush came about.'

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/u-credit-rating-victim-gop-sabotage-021622372.html#more-id