In the unlikely event the nation defaults, we’ll know who to blame.

As evidence to be used later on if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, here’s how we can decide who’s really to blame:

Washington Post: Debt ceiling Armageddon: A new Pew poll finds that a majority of Republicans voters, and an even larger majority of Tea Party supporters, simply don’t think failing to raise the debt ceiling will lead to a crisis:

By a 53% to 30% margin, most Republicans say that it will not be a major problem if the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2. The balance of opinion is the reverse among Democrats: 56% say it is absolutely essential to meet that deadline to avoid an economic crisis, 28% say it is not.

Tea Party Republicans are by far the most unconvinced about the potential fallout from going past the Aug. 2 deadline. Fully 65% of Republicans and Republican leaning independents who agree with the Tea Party see no major problems if this occurs, compared with 45% of Republicans and Republican leaners who do not agree with the Tea Party. Put another way, large swaths of the GOP base has been deluded into thinking no crisis of any kind is imminent. The GOP base has become Bachmann Nation.

Rachel Maddow talked with Roll Call's John Stanton about the growing number of tea party numb skulls who think default makes sense. Frightening stuff;