Excuse me for somewhat re-hashing Joseph Lawler’s earlier item on the breakdown of negotiations over the debt ceiling, but I felt there was a need for at least one honest headline about what’s really happening here.

Go look through all the reporting on this story and see if you can find anyone describing the impasse in terms of Democrats refusing to compromise. No, the liberal media are slavishly repeating the Democrats’ accusation that the problem is with those stubborn right-wing Republicans. Ace of Spades is fed up:

The media of course has been slanting this story all along.
They claim the Republicans “won’t agree” to a debt limit increase. What they mean is that Republicans won’t agree to a debt limit increase on the Democrats’ terms.
Funny, they never report the corollary: That Democrats refuse to agree to a deal on the Republicans’ terms.
Seems both sides are bargaining here but only one is called out for not simply agreeing to the other’s opening position.
Now the Democrats have made it clear what they want.
What they always want.
What they always have wanted.
What they always will want. …
They want tax increases.

Democrats are insisting on higher taxes — or else! — and the liberal media, knowing that higher taxes are unpopular, are helping Democrats obfuscate the issue and shift the blame to Republicans. I don’t know what difference one honest headline will make, but I figured somebody had to try.