Pictured on left: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Bachmannistan)

Pictured on left: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Bachmannistan)

Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas, the highest ranking member of the House Committee of Bat&h!t Wingnuttery, proposes a solution for dealing with the threat of government default:



When asked whether he would allow the government to default on its debt, Gohmert projected the responsibility for such circumstances onto Obama. "No," he said, "that would be an impeachable offense by the president."

Surely we can all agree that this is the most elegant way out of this mess. For one, it would allow House Republicans to save face, because instead of caving into extortionist Democratic demands that they prevent a default by raising the debt limit (which, coincidentally, is the only thing that can prevent a default), they could sit on their asses and do nothing.

Then, when the government defaults because Republicans sat around and did nothing instead of raising the debt ceiling, they could impeach President Obama for obeying the law that they refused to change. Sure, they would be blaming him for a crisis that they created, but as every pundit inside D.C. knows, what's truly important here is that Republicans be given an opportunity to save face, because doing otherwise might fray the collegial atmosphere that keeps Washington working.

Really, it's a win win situation, because Republicans win by forcing the default, and then they win by pointing the finger at President Obama. Yes, the collateral damage would be awful for America—things like unpaid Social Security checks, financial markets in turmoil, and a massive recession coupled with austerity like we've never seen before—but Beltway pundits could go to sleep at night satisfied that Republicans had not been humiliated, because at a time like this, our top priority should be avoiding the humiliation of Republicans who have absolutely no respect for the country they were elected to serve.