debt ceiling "hostages"

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As part of their effort to improve the nature of political discourse the Ds have been labeling the Rs as "hostage takers". For example Paul Krugman sees the Rs efforts to use the debt ceiling to force drastic cuts in spending as the taking of hostages. He has a point. He says they are saying, "Cut spending or the house will burn down around us all.

Except for the fact that the Ds are the ones using this rhetoric I don't see how the two sides are really that different. Isn't the Ds position the opposite side of the same coin? They agree that the spending rate is "unsustainable" (the new buzz word). But aren't they saying, "Let us continue to spend at this rate or the house will burn down around us all?"
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