And a recent story in the Wall Street Journal -- in more ways than one -- shows why:
During a recent series of meetings and fund-raisers, top Wall Street executives and lobbyists have urged Republicans to resolve the debt-ceiling debate quickly or risk turmoil in the bond market.
In the sessions, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) explained the politics of the vote to investors, telling them Republicans won't approve an increase in how much the U.S. can borrow without a long-term deficit-reduction plan, according to people familiar with his remarks. In turn, the executives said delaying a resolution could unnerve skittish credit markets.
It's not underlined in the article itself, but the demand Speaker Boehner's laying out there is markedly different than what the GOP had been saying previously.
Before, the GOP had been making noise that would imply they'd require something far more substantive than "a long-term deficit-reduction plan":
House Republicans will demand major concessions before agreeing to raise the nation's debt ceiling, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) said on Sunday, setting the stage for another showdown over spending.
[...]
In exchange for raising the debt limit -- long a routine move allowing the Treasury Department to borrow more money -- House Republicans will demand further concessions to shrink the government, Cantor said.
"There comes at times leverage moments, a time when the president will capitulate to what the American people want right now," he said. "They don't want to raise taxes, they don't want borrowing to continue out of control."
What we have here is either an example of disagreement between Leader Cantor and Speaker Boehner or, more far more likely, the first evidence of the GOP shifting the goal-posts so as to make it easier for them, politically, to do what
everyone -- besides those of us who have worn a tri-corner hat in public recently -- knows they must and raise the nation's debt ceiling.
Most people always imagined they'd do so, of course; if for no other reason than so as not to run afoul of Wall Street. But I think we're seeing here the first tangible proof.
(cross-posted at eliaisquire.com)