Sweet Karma...

...that's how p m carpenter described the situation in which Majority Leader McConnell has found himself.

Here's some background on why.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is not the only GOP leader in Washington with a Tea Party problem.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is coming under some Tea Party pressure of his own in the debate over deficit reduction and raising the debt limit.

Tea Party-backed lawmakers are pushing McConnell to insist on passage of a balanced budget amendment in exchange for allowing an increase in the debt limit...

Lawmakers who vow to oppose the debt-limit increase in the absence of a balanced budget amendment passing are bluntly telling McConnell that he’ll have fewer votes to count on for any deal he negotiates with the president, the source said. The senator added the chances of garnering the requisite two-thirds vote in the upper chamber for the amendment are very slim.

Insistence on passage of a balanced budget amendment makes it virtually impossible for McConnell to satisfy conservatives, the lawmaker said.

But proponents of the balanced budget amendment say it is the only safeguard that can ensure the country will not fall into fiscal trouble in the future. They say the only way it can pass is if as many Republicans as possible take a strong stand in support of it.

The point p m carpenter makes is that the Tea Partiers are putting McConnell is much the same position some progressives wanted to put Obama over the public option in health care reform. In other words, they're pushing him to "draw a line in the sand," thinking that somehow works in their favor.

But McConnell knows (much as Obama did about the public option) that the votes aren't there in the Senate. And if the Tea Partiers push him too hard, his only option in getting the debt ceiling raised will be to work with Senate Democrats to get the votes for a deal.

This is what happens when your "base" makes unreasonable demands that have no chance of garnering enough votes - you push your own party into negotiations with your opponent.

The other point to mention here is that - as the quoted article says - McConnell joins Boehner in finding himself between a rock and a hard place. Why is that an important thing to notice?

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

– Sun Tzu on The Art of War