Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), among other prominent Democrats, blamed the Tea Party for S&P’s downgrade of the U.S. government's long-held AAA credit rating. In the aftermath of this historic U.S. fiscal shift, which arrived despite the $2.5 trillion deficit reduction plan passed last week, the congressional blame game is an inevitable outcome, and Sunday shaped the springboard for Congress to indulge the media in partisan pandering.

"This is the Tea Party downgrade because a minority of people in the House of Representatives countered even the will of many Republicans in the United States Senate who were prepared to do a bigger deal," Sen. Kerry said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, referencing the Senate’s bipartisan "Gang of Six" plan, which compromised spending cuts for tax increases.

Responding to Kerry’s accusation, John McCain (R-Ariz.) — who recently called House Republicans "hobbits" for their thwarted balanced budget amendment — defended Tea Party Republicans, while congratulating them for keeping their 2008 campaign promises.

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Photo: Sen. John Kerry