Everybody reaches for weird Lord of the Rings metaphors to explain the debt ceiling crisis

In the fog of confusion over the newly reached debt ceiling deal, nobody quite knows how to describe what's happened. So naturally, everyone reaches for Tolkien.

Senator John McCain quoted a Wall Street Journal editorial, which described the Tea Party's reasoning behind not supporting the deal:

Democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment and reform entitlements and the Tea Party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth.

In that narrative, the Tea Party are the Hobbits, and the Balanced Budget Amendment is the One Ring. I think.

Update: Apparently, we missed Stephen Colbert's hilarious take on this the other day. Thanks, Xstrikr!

Pete Spiliakos over at Postmodern Conservative takes issue with this description:

Can anyone picture a Sam, Frodo or Pippin bragging about having a "titanium spine" – even had they known what titanium is? If you had to to make invidious comparisons between one's least favorite Tea Party-affiliated politicians and nonvillainous characters in the Lord of the Rings (though I don't know why you would have to), wouldn't it be to Boromir?

Meanwhile, over at Crooked Timber, Gollum and Smeagol debate the merits of the deal President Obama struck. Gollum feels like he has been tricked by the Tea Party hobbitses, while Smeagol feels as though Obama (Master) is doing the right thing. But of course, we all know how that turned out.