It seems more and more clear that the Republican extremists in control of the House don't want to prevent default on the debt they helped to create.

They WANT a default. They want the economy to crash, and then take total control of Washington (and beyond) next year.

They need help from Big Journalism to do this. And they're getting it, as the political press treats this extortion/sabotage as just another horse race story with two roughly equivalent sides.