The Tea Party Wants What It Wants When It Wants It ... Or Else

By Terrance Heath
Created 07/15/2011 - 3:53pm

"I want what I want when I want it."

Those are Eric Cantor's words. No, they're not words he said recently, but words he chose years ago, for his high school yearbook quote [1]. And while it may seem unfair to bring them up now (After all, how many of us said or did things in high school that make us cringe now?), they're actually a perfect distillation of not just Eric Cantor's approach to the debt ceiling negotiations, but that of the tea party contingent he represents: They want what they want when they want it. Or else.

It doesn't matter that most of the rest of us don't want what they want. It doesn't matter that what they want would be disastrous for the economy, and millions of American families. It's what they want, and they want it now.