"I need your help. I can't tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. And we're going to hurt some people."

Republicans think the debt ceiling negotiations are totally like a Ben Affleck heist movie, or something: At a closed-door House GOP meeting about the debt ceiling yesterday, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy reportedly played the following clip from The Town for his fellow Republicans:

That got 'em psyched! HuffPo reports that Florida GOP Rep. Allen West responded afterwards by telling the gathered legislators: "I am ready to drive that car." I don't want to play metaphor cop, but I have to wonder if the clip really offered the precise motivational parallel West and other Republicans were looking for: In the movie, the character played by Jeremy Renner who offers to drive the car in the clip was a loyal but violent friend whose total lack of impulse control kept getting Affleck's character in trouble. At the end, Renner's character dies. Make of that what you will.