re: "If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to the Tea Party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner."
Did it ever occur to you (or the article's author) that it's pretty pointless to have representation at all if all the representative does is to support the leader?
I know this concept is alien to you, but congressmen (and voters) who disengage their brain and just say "Jawohl!" every time their party tells them to vote for something are what has ruined the nation.
This isn't a football game. Being on the side that wins shouldn't be the goal.