Emails (excerpted), responses to PolitiFact Texas, Daniel J. Mitchell, senior fellow, CATO Institute, Washington, Jan. 11, 2013

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We are suffering from a below-par recovery (the worst since WWII), in part because a record burden of federal spending is diverting resources from the productive sector of the economy.

And Doggett wants us to believe that the problem is that GAO thinks it may have measured a ripple (not even a tempest, when you compare to overall debt numbers) in the teacup.

Count me as being unimpressed.

Besides, we have these conflicts because there are different visions of what to do. To extent these different visions cause a clash on matters such as the debt limit, any potential fallout is, by definition, the fault of both.

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My main point is that it is ridiculous to give either party more than 50 pct of the blame. It takes two to tango in these fights.