Suicide Caucus Or Not? (With Update)

Here is one Tea-Bagger who accepts his role as a lemming:

[Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.] said Republicans were “absolutely” prepared to lose the House to extract concessions on the CR and the debt limit, and he said the White House is “missing the determination of the Republican Party.”

The Republicans are definitely having problems with their message right now.  So what is it -- are the Baggers on a suicide run or do they really believe -- as a lot of Republicans are now claiming -- that a default would be a minor thing?  Whatever it is, Steve Benen does not think that the Baggers are very good hostage takers:

Let's say the default deniers are right. They're not, but let's just say they are for the sake of conversation, and the consequences of the United States ignoring its financial obligations would be minor. If that's true, why should President Obama and congressional Democrats pay a steep ransom to let the hostage go?

In other words, Republican lawmakers are presenting Dems with the following message: "Meet our demands or we'll shoot the hostage. And by the way, even if we pull the trigger, the hostage will probably be fine." I'm not an expert in hostage crises, but there seems to be a problem here.

I think the Baggers are having a message problem because they want the economic chaos that will result from a default. Why do they want that?  Because they believe that history will blame President Blackenstein for it. 

But they can't come out and just say they want economic chaos. These folks are idiots, but they are smart enough to know that you shouldn't admit to intentionally trying to bring down the economy. Then you'd have to explain why you hate America so much. So instead they simply say that a default on our debt wouldn't be a big deal, even though they are quietly expecting that it will be. 

They clearly wanted to shut the government down.  Why else would they demand from the President the one thing they knew he couldn't give them, namely, the repeal of ObamaCare?  The Baggers made Obama an "offer" they knew he'd refuse.

Anyone who previously questioned whether the GOP would rather see the economy tank than let Obama achieve even a perceived victory should doubt no longer.  Mitch McConnell himself proclaimed several years ago the the GOP plan was to bring down Obama, and the country is now witnessing what happens when a major political party lets hatred for the President drive its agenda.

UPDATE:  Looks like the Kock Brothers just blinked:

In a letter to U.S senators dated Wednesday, Koch Industries denied ever advocating for a government shutdown as a way to force the defunding of Obamacare. The letter was in response to comments on the Senate floor Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in which he blamed Koch for the shutdown, which followed a conservative push to pressure Democrats into defunding or delaying Obamacare to keep the government open.