Cough . . . cough . . . bullshit . . . cough . . . cough.

(The Hill) — The White House shot back Thursday at Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) claim that Republicans had called the president’s bluff in debt-ceiling negotiations.

The administration issued a point-by-point rebuttal to Ryan’s op-ed yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, in which he characterized Republicans as having successfully stared down Obama in the protracted fight over spending and the nation’s borrowing authority.

Maybe the most bombastic claim Ryan made was that Republican leaders called Obama’s bluff by forcing him to accept legislation that included no revenue-raisers and raised the debt limit in two stages, the second of which comes before the 2012 election.

“The president stood firm and forced Republicans to back down, preventing them from using the prospect of default as leverage again in six months by ensuring that any additional debt-limit increases will not be needed until 2013,” wrote Stephanie Cutter, an assistant to the president and a deputy senior adviser, on the White House blog.

Cutter also made mention of the reported moment when Obama abruptly ended debt talks by warning House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): “Eric, don’t call my bluff.”