Alan Simpson Nails It On The Debt Ceiling

Calculated Risk has his comments. He nails it:

Maria Bartiromo: "Do you believe the GOP should be using the debt ceiling as leverage point to get the President to agree to the cuts?"

Alan Simpson: "I think that would be a grave mistake. I don’t think that would solve anything. I know they are going to try it, and how far you go with a game of chicken, I have no idea. But I can tell you … you can’t, you really can’t … This is stuff we’ve already indebted ourselves. If you’re a real conservative – a really honest conservative, without hypocrisy – you’d want to pay your debt.And that’s what this is, they are not running up anything new."

This is part of a bigger trend: There's a fair amount of outside pressure, even from the right, on conservatives to not take a stand on the debt ceiling.

This is something that Ben White, in his Morning Money note, does a great job summarizing today.

In addition to Simpson, you have folks like Newt Gingrich and the Koch Brothers saying the same thing, that the debt ceiling isn't the place to take a stand.

You also have a fair number of folks, like former Treasury official Tony Fratto, pushing back against the idea that "prioritization" is anything but bonkers.

Inside the House GOP, there may be a rising appetite to take it to the limit. Outside the GOP, there's a growing number of folks yelling STOP.