In a statement to National Review Online, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (and potential 2012 presidential candidate) John Bolton predicts a “war of nerves” between Republican lawmakers and the Obama Administration over the upcoming vote to increase the federal debt limit, and insists that the GOP’s options aren’t as limited as the administration has been suggesting through “disinformation.” He argues that Republicans can use the upcoming vote as leverage to extract “extensive, hopefully permanent” spending cuts from the White House, and without any legitimate threat of a government shutdown.

“Contrary to Obama Administration’s rhetoric, we do not face a choice only between defaulting on our debt on one hand versus raising the debt ceiling on the other,” Bolton says. “Nor is the real choice between shutting down the government entirely versus passing a CR for the remainder of the fiscal year.”

These “false dichotomies,” he argues, are intended to weaken Republicans politically by casting them as extreme. But Bolton points out that Republicans have a number of tactics at their disposal by which to gain the upper hand. For instance, CRs can be extended for periods as short as 24 hours if necessary, a process that can be continued indefinitely. Not only that, but the debt ceiling can be raised incrementally in small amounts, as opposed to doing it all once.

Pursuing both of these options simultaneously, Bolton notes, would mount increasing pressure on the White House to offer concessions. “The debt ceiling and the CR have to be understood as two pincers, whose effectiveness for leverage are enhanced when used together rather than separately,” he says. “Dealing with them separately enhances the bargaining position of the Obama Administration rather than Congressional conservatives.”

And he sees little downside for Republicans in such a strategy. “Some say these tactical approaches would reduce government effectiveness during the continuing controversy,” he says. “That outcome, in fact, would make government more effective by concentrating and reducing the scope and size of government programs.”

“We are serious about substantial cuts in domestic and wasteful government spending,” Bolton concludes. “Thus, the responsible Republican position is that there will be no default on the national debt, and there will be no government shutdown. There will instead be a war of nerves until the Obama Administration agrees to biding commitments to reduce government domestic spending back to fiscal year 2008 levels, if not even earlier if we can do so.”