As John Boehner acknowledged, Republicans now
control U.S. fiscal policy (Jason Reed/Reuters)
 

Republicans are slamming President Obama for the S&P debt downgrade, perhaps none more colorfully than Michele Bachmann:

We were warned by all of the credit agencies that a failure to deal with our debt would lead to a downgrade in our credit rating, but instead [President Obama] submitted a budget that had a $ 1.5 trillion deficit and then requested a $ 2.4 trillion blank check. President Obama is destroying the foundations of the U.S. economy one beam at a time.

And Mitt Romney followed Bachmann’s lead:

America’s creditworthiness just became the latest casualty in President Obama’s failed record of leadership on the economy. [...] His failed policies have led to high unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, and now, the unprecedented loss of our nation’s prized AAA credit rating.

Yet despite their hot air, the S&P’s downgrade came on the heels of a debt deal in which John Boehner claimed a sweeping victory:

When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, I got 98 percent of what I wanted. I’m pretty happy.

The truth is that the S&P downgrade was based on bad math and predetermined conclusions. But if Republicans want to accept the validity of S&P’s decision, they need to recognize that John Boehner and the GOP just took ownership of it. After all, they got 98% of what they wanted.

Daily Kos