MONTAGE: The ‘Debt-Ceiling Deniers’ Are Everywhere

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the Senate, where Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "The debt-ceiling deniers try to claim that default won’t be a big deal." He told Mr. Lew, "Well, the debt-ceiling deniers need a dose of debt-ceiling reality and you've given them that today."

Later in the hearing, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said, "We hear from the debt-limit deniers that they are sure that even if we get there nothing will happen since we can pay China and Wall Street first."

And then in the media, "debt-ceiling denier" became the phrase de rigueur. Piers Morgan, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer, Mike Barnicle, and Joan Walsh were all spotted bandying the fashionable expression.