Are Republicans trying to sabotage the economy?

It's really the subtext for most anything that goes on these days in Washington - raising the debt ceiling, the federal stimulus, the confirmation of Elizabeth Warren to head the new consumer protection agency, lots of stuff. Financial writer Dan Gross tells Henry Blodget that there's a group of Republicans who are "willing to blow stuff up" in order to thwart Obama's reelection - even if it means not acting in the best interest of the people they're serving. Prime example is the mania over deficit-reduction, which would not be receiving nearly the same attention among Republicans were Bush or McCain in the White House. It's simply not that critical a problem, certainly in the short term. But in the context of a struggling economy, it serves their purpose - much like their claims that the auto bailout was the work of a socialist White House. Of course, the party out of office will always try making things harder for the party in office. The question is whether those actions go against the actual beliefs of the lawmakers. The answer, most certainly, is yes - and it helps explain why so much of the narrative concerning the economy has been negative.