They've been acting for months to jockey to a position that benefited their side more. It was always going to go down to the wire. That's how this works.

Absolutely - they do what they're elected to do in many senses. But they're still acting.

The Democrats and most of the establishment Republicans do not consider the debt ceiling increase to be "on the table" as part of a compromise. They realize it needs to be done because the consequences are worse than not. So I reject the notion that this was actually a compromise position, even if the reckless Tea Party doesn't.

Call the Tea Party reckless if you'd like, but the option for them was to cut spending where necessary to avoid even having to hit the limit - a better option than this, IMO.

Tax increases being off the table shows they are more ideologically driven than realistic about reducing the deficit. All this jockeying over the last few months, among other things, has had the benefit of showing the true colors of everyone involved.

That tax increases were on the table is the true problem. The Tea Party and the Republicans both showed that this can be done without tax increases.