See if you can count how many times Christiane Amanpour and Co. repeat right-wing tropes and/or Villager conventional wisdom! I managed to watch this morning without breaking my TV, even though I badly wanted to.

First of all, no discussion whatsoever of the fact that John Boehner has said, on the record, that the new Republican congress freshmen understand that they have to raise the debt ceiling. That's a pretty significant omission, since the entire rationale for this debt-ceiling hysteria arises from the absurd idea that a Republican House is going to kick Wall Street in the nuts. How likely do you think that is?

Can I get an amen? There is no spending crisis. This is an elaborate game. Now, onto the show.

The main theme today is "no way can this be done without entitlement reform." Oh, and kicking the Democratic leaders for standing in the way of the Grand Bargain. "Why oh why does that dumb Nancy Pelosi continue to oppose the idea of using the poor as human shields? What a bitch."

I lost it at the point when I heard the comfortably wealthy Donna Brazile say, "You can't cut programs that affect the middle class, senior citizens and people with disabilities without putting revenues on the table!" Never a word about the appalling idea of actually hurting those people, people Democrats used to protect - just annoyance with the Republicans for not buying the deal. (Oh, and by the way? I'll give you a dime for every time you can show me a prominent Democrat who went on TV and talked about the poor in the past year. Yes, actual poor people, not the "middle class" talking point they pound like a drum.)

George Will? No one listens to him except the other panelists. He's useful only as a barometer of Village conventional wisdom, since he hasn't had an original thought in decades -- probably since his then-wife threw his self-righteous, adulterous ass out of her house and his clothes on the lawn.

Also: White House chief of staff Bill Daley says Obama "still wants a big deal." Oy.