The debt ceiling debate is the biggest story in Washington right now and as with anything having to do with American politics, it's a mix of ridiculousness, hubris, and incredible stupidity.  The debt ceiling has been a non-issue throughout American political history.  It has been raised 74 times since 1962 , mostly under Republican majorities, without any major difficulties.  Sure, there have been some individuals who have voted against raising it in order to score cheap political points or make some inane statement, like then-Senator Obama did in March 2006.  But there was never any serious risk that the limit wouldn't get raised.  Most everyone seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and wouldn't dare flirt with the U.S. defaulting on it's debt.  Well, welcome to American politics in the year 2011.  What should be and always has been a non-issue has been turned into a potential disaster all because the Tea Party controlled House and spineless Republican Senate Minority wants to hold the raising of the debt ceiling hostage in order to conform with some inane political ideology. Sigh!

Here's Rachel Maddow with a great segment on how this is a crisis completely of the Republicans choosing.

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Dave Weigel explains how Senate Republicans want to cut a budget deal with President Obama in order to raise the debt ceiling but Tea Party backed House Republicans won't play along.

And here's is a great article on theatlantic.com highlighting the hypocrisy of some of those same House Republicans who decry wasteful government spending.