I'm not persuaded by public polling on these issues for the very reason that you point out: the hypocrisy in their demands. The public super majorities that you

I'm not persuaded by public polling on these issues for the very reason that you point out: the hypocrisy in their demands. The public super majorities that you speak of are also much too casual observers of the political process to understand what any of this means in isolation. Hell, over 60% of the public doesn't even _want_ the US to raise the debt ceiling (I forget the exact number cited in the press conference, but it was in the 60s). This is despite the fact that the leadership of both parties has acknowledged it needs to happen to avoid disaster. I'm also not sure the cuts are as immediate as you say. I can't find any details on what is being negotiated (both leaderships and Obama have refused to give specifics), but on the revenues side for example, Obama said today that even the tax increases that are being talked about wouldn't come into effect until 2013. If they are talking about raising the retirement age or restructuring Medicare, I wouldn't rule out that it would take place over time or have a grandfathering period. I agree that the debt ceiling and deficit reduction discussions should be separate, but the ship sailed on that a while ago, so all of the above is written from the perspective of dealing with this stuff in the present context.