she could have said “the real debt ceiling is not a bill nor an Act of Congress.”

Merely raising the debt ceiling doesn’t prevent us from “default” — default is also when we have to borrow more money to fund today’s expenditures, and nobody will lend this money to us at current rates. What happens to interest rates THEN?

The “debt ceiling” is whenever people stop wanting to lend the U.S. Government money. The problem with default is not created by authorizing higher credit limits — the problem is spending outpacing the funds confiscated by government to pay for today’s bills.

Cy – you are right. Another way to say it is – we are in default now. Michele does a great job of making the debate personal to the viewer through analogies. Like: If you have to borrow money to pay the interest on your credit cards you are in default now! The difference between an individual and the government is that you can’t print money in your basement – without getting put in jail.

Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are much better at explaining why they won’t vote to raise the debt ceiling and why that doesn’t mean that the U.S. will go into default. On Sunday, Rubio did a much better job of handling a very hostile interview on Meet the Press. Bachman is getting better, but she still isn’t ready to play with the big boys. Fortunately for her, most of the other Republican candidates for President aren’t very sharp either.

She did very well, but on this statement “But you just heard the deputy treasury secretary say that’s default by another name.” – she should have slammed him with: “Wolin and Geithner are liars. That is not default. The financial markets have proved this by yawning at the prospect of a government shutdown. We have plenty of revenue coming in to prevent default. The only way we will default is if Mr. Geithner himself, as Treasury Secretary, prioritizes the funding of Cowboy Poetry Festivals and government fat ahead of paying the interest on the debt. If Democrats are serious about preventing default, they will pass the Full Faith and Credit Act, which requires the treasury to pay the interest on the debt first.” (She did mention this.) Source on not defaulting.

The key piece of evidence that failing to make various in-house payments is not “default by another name” is that the market made no reaction whatsoever to a potential government shutdown.

The most effective rebuttal is unvarnished truth. For diplomacy’s sake, I’ll concede substituting “Wolin and Geithner are flat-out wrong,” for “Wolin and Geithner are liars” but that is all. Of course it is always easier for you and me – nonparticipants – to come up with the right response, especially after the fact. She did great. She is way ahead of the pack (especially in the House) in recognizing the importance of not raising the debt ceiling. Refusing to raise it is the key to dramatically reducing spending and to preventing the further devaluing of our currency through QE3.

They aren’t doing any homework or are not willing to look at what not raising debt ceiling means. It does not mean an automatic default.

“Last time I used President Obama’s teleprompter.”

She had planned for the SNAFU’s question – but her comments about asterisks and provisos and aspirational documents are a bit strained. I know what she means but I think this sounds like pol-speak from someone who is not comfortable with it. And rightly so… she’s not a beltway buddy.