Is this a great country or what?

Here's Harold Pollack, a lefty:

This has become a conflict with a nihilist minority among Republicans. This minority exudes contempt for the craft of public policy. It eagerly seeks whatever violation of our nation’s implicit legislative norms would provide some momentary advantage. This minority now holds hostage the full faith and credit of the United States . . .

OK, Now I'm Mad
(emphasis added)

Here's Andrew Sullivan, a self-described conservative who I would probably classify a moderate:

The Republican refusal to countenance any way to raise revenues to tackle the massive debt incurred largely on their watch and from a recession which started under Obama's predecessor makes one thing clear. They are not a political party in government; they are a radical faction that refuses to participate meaningfully in the give and take the Founders firmly believed should be at the center of American government. They are not conservatives in this sense. They are anarchists.

America's Cold Civil War
(emphasis added)

And don't forget certfied conservative-with-a-capital-C, David Brooks:

. . . the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.

[snip]

The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities. A thousand impartial experts may tell them that a default on the debt would have calamitous effects, far worse than raising tax revenues a bit. But the members of this movement refuse to believe it.

The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency. A nation makes a sacred pledge to pay the money back when it borrows money. But the members of this movement talk blandly of default and are willing to stain their nation’s honor.

The Mother of All No-Brainers
(emphasis added)

So according to these guys, the Repubs are controlled by nihilist, anarchist, anti-intellectual, moral degenerates. Sounds just about right to me.