I was listening to a Republican congressman being interviewed on All Things Considered last night and he was asked whether the GOP was holding a host of issues hostage–holding a gun to the administration’s head–until it got its way on fiscal matters.  He answered that this was just the sort of question  you’d expect from NPR.  So, let me get this straight:  it’s OK to let jobless benefits for two million people expire, as well as hold up action on things like the START treaty and other bills, because the GOP must protect the interests of millionaires and billionaires who might take a trivial tax hit if the Bush tax cuts expire.  But how DARE anyone question this and call it what it is.  What effrontery by the left-wing media!  No wonder the Repub’s top priority recently was defunding NPR.  Not making sure that benefits for the unemployed didn’t expire, but making sure those arugula munchers at NPR got cut off from the public trough.  Now there’s a party with its priorities straight.