Repubs believe they are in better position for the debt limit vote but are they??

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Republicans have done untold damage to their leverage in just the past two weeks

They do not look like a serious political party with their antics over the last two weeks, from their sabotaging of Boehner on Plan B to yesterday's drawn out nonsense with the Amendment process. Then they compounded this incredible strategic error by playing the petulant child on Sandy Relief.

We're to assume that they'll go into the debt limit fight looking like the adults in the room? Part of the intangible benefit of the last few days is that the Republicans in the House do not look like serious negotiators. So if the President says, "Listen, these people won't pay for the debts they already voted for, and I'm not negotiating with them on that," the public is suddenly going to see it their way? I doubt it.

People have claimed that the last few ays have seen the Dems lose leverage on the debt talks. Just the opposite: the Republicans have lost something far more serious than leverage. They've lost credibility.