It's one of their best qualities. They're not being devious, not being unclear about their motivations. They just hate you. Honestly hate you.
Of course, they hate President Obama even more. A thousand blazing supernovas with a side order of big bang? Barely an ember next to how much they hate him, and really, they're completely honest about that. The Tea Party formerly-known-as-Republicans is all about the hate.
They may dress up in some Uncle Sam suits and wave some paper flags, but they've done the math -- they hate the president much, much more than they love the country. By a factor of, oh, twenty zillion to one. And that's on a day when they're feeling generous. Their hatred for the president so outweighs anything else that they've made a simple decision: they're willing to sink the ship on the off chance that the captain will drown.
That's not an exaggeration. It's exactly what McConnell and Boehner are saying when they refuse to make a deal on the basis that it might help President Obama win reelection in 2012. The full faith and credit of the United States is worth less to them than the opportunity to hurt this man. If the economy flags, if jobs are lost, if there is blood in the streets, its all dandy so long as these guys can look over and see that this will hurt Obama. A sizable number of Republicans -- a majority of Republicans -- have even signed onto the idea that they hate Obama so much that no matter the deal, no matter what else they're offered, they won't agree. Just because it could possibly help the president.
There's no hidden agenda here. They just hate you.