When folks tell me they don't watch The O'Reilly Factor, I urge them to at least watch the first 2 minutes of the show: the Talking Points memo. Bill usually has something perceptive to say. On Thursday night (7-21-2011), Bill delivered one of his best and most timely memos, "Is the Tea Party Self-Destructive?" He respectfully addressed the Tea Party but asked for flexibility in the debt ceiling talks. Bill agrees with the Tea Party's demand for immediate spending cuts but thinks the debt ceiling must be raised to avoid a credit downgrade. Here's the LINK

If Tea Partiers are unconvinced about the need to hike the debt ceiling, Kevin Williamson wrote a very sobering article on the repercussions of a credit downgrade that appeared on Tuesday at National Review Online.

The Tea Party is a dynamic force for constitutionalism and Americanism. But they must be prepared to jettison some demands for now and wait for the next election to get them.

Live to fight another day, I say.

Jon N. Hall is a programmer/analyst from Kansas City.