The WSJ is unbelievably stupid (and irresponsible).

WSJ, giving House Republicans advice on how to deal with the debt ceiling: "You can't take a hostage you aren't prepared to shoot."

I can't believe they actually used a violent metaphor in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings.  Moreover, they got their metaphor wrong and they've explicitly accepted their own kind as the lunatic in the scenario.

The WSJ is advocating the idea that Republicans should be prepared to let the debt ceiling stay in place and shut down government.  But it's a miscalculation, you see.  As I've demonstrated before, Republicans actually believe in keeping the debt ceiling in place -- it's why they keep voting at the start of every new session of Congress to pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.

The WSJ must be stuck in the same echo chamber they were caught up in, last year during the elections.

In this case, the terrorist isn't trying to use the hostage as leverage -- well at least 96% of his brain is telling the terrorist that this is not a hostage.  The terrorist is an unstable person who believes that he will be celebrated for killing the hostage, and vilified for letting the hostage go.  Just a small part of this terrorist's brain -- a measly 4% -- is telling him that he cannot kill the hostage.

Don't believe me?  In the run-up to the last debt ceiling confrontation, 229 House Republicans (96% of House Republicans) voted to pass the Cut, Cap and Balance Bill in 2011.  The  passage of the CCB Bill in the House was the leverage the House used, to get their sequestration cuts that were part of the fiscal cliff.

The House's response to the debt ceiling crisis in 2011, was to say, "It's up to you when we kill the hostage, but make no mistake, we intend to kill the hostage."

Here's the rub: The moment they kill the hostage, the terrorist himself is dead.  It's political suicide, to kill the hostage.

But if history repeats itself, look to Democrats to try to make concessions to stave off the hostage's death, by giving the terrorist more hostages.  To wit: Democrats accepted sequestration cuts, and we got the fiscal cliff; in the fiscal cliff deal, Democrats allowed the sequestration cuts to remain, but put it off for two months.

Guess what happens in two months?  Debt ceiling + sequestration cuts.