Earlier quoted context omitted.
A little bit, maybe, but probably not entirely. The joke is that debt investors have no memory. For example, Argentina has defaulted many times in recent memory but was still able to market a 100-year bond in 2017 (which it has already defaulted on).
This is more a sign that the bond rating process remains broken despite some superficial reforms after the 2008 financial crisis. The major rating agencies gave that Argentine bond a B rating which allows many institutional investors to buy, despite the reality that it's obviously garbage. Then when the next default hits the fund managers can blame their losses on the rating agencies. Nothing changes.
In what sense did the rating agencies do a terrible job here? First B is a junk rating, not investment grade. Secondly if you get paid 7.9% for six years plus a market price of 30 cents on the dollar you get back more than 75 cents on the dollar, which would have been comparable to the performance of US 30 year Treasury issued around the same time. People do realize that if the principal is not paid back then whether there is one year or 90 years left on the bond term is irrelevant, right? In other words if you suspect the default risk is high you might as well buy the 100 year instead of the 10 year to get compensated by the higher premium.