Our Congress did not "fail to come to an agreement". It was deliberately deadlocked by a cynical and unprincipled but highly disciplined and ruthless minority.

This had nothing to do with stupidity. It was a boldly conceived, carefully planned and brilliantly executed parliamentary maneuver designed to prevent a routine vote and hamstring the government.

The only ineffectiveness and stupidity in evidence was that of the President and the Democratic Party who tried to appease these political terrorists and gave in to blackmail in a pointless attempt to compromise. For these people, 'compromise' and 'debate' are only signs of liberal weakness and cowardice. Even fellow Republicans and moderate conservatives are starting to realize this now, but I fear it is too late. The Reichstag's already on fire.

The Tea Party is not as interested in promoting their position as they are in discrediting and humiliating their political opponents, whether they are on the left or right. They have opposed almost every policy and appointment of this administration, even those they supported in the past, in an attempt to obstruct the President, paint him as weak, ineffective, and bring the nation to its knees so they can then blame him for it. And I am afraid they have succeeded.

They want the Obama administration to fail, regardless of what price the nation as a whole has to pay. After all, they have no intention of paying their share of that price. They've made that abundantly clear from the very beginning.