Back in February, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., blocked an extension of unemployment benefits. It wasn't that he opposed the benefits — he explained that he would support them as long as Congress offset their cost by cutting elsewhere. But his explanation was lost on the media, which joined Democrats in vilifying him and mischaracterizing him as some sort of Grinch. He finally backed down.

Today, a group of House liberals is railing against the bipartisan agreement to freeze tax rates and extend unemployment benefits. They have even forced Democrats to pull the deal from the House floor, for the moment. Like Bunning, they don't oppose the unemployment benefits extension, but they are blocking it on the grounds that it squanders an opportunity to let tax rates rise, so that they can pay for the extravagant appropriations they made this year.

So how, exactly, is what they the liberals are doing any different from what Bunning did? And do you suppose they will receive similar, unfavorable coverage?

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