To be quite honest, I think the TEA baggers are going to essentially get what they want. This is the one group that has no willingness to bend even an inch. And it's the one group that is willing to let the United States slide into default. Most of them (and their loyal followers) are too dumb to even know what that means. The (more sane) Republicans are afraid of them and the Democrats are afraid of them. So rather than let these ignorant ideologues ruin this nation forever, I figure all the others will blink and just pass what the TEA baggers want: no tax hikes, no tax break dissolution/continued sweetheart tax breaks for certain industries, continued massive military spending, major cuts to entitlements... and a delay that will cause the U.S.'s credit rating to be downgraded. No default, but there will be a downgrade - just my wild ass guess.
Until intelligent people take back the GOP from these simple-minded wingnuts, you've basically got the Taliban running around the streets of D.C., ready to destroy the nation unless they get their way.