Michael Tomasky: They rarely say it this plainly

As you probably know, Republicans in Congress having been blocking the extension of unemployment benefits for 1.2 million Americans on the grounds that doing so would increase the deficit. All spending, they insist, must be offset by like-sized cuts so that everything washes out as deficit neutral.

Turns out there's an exception to this, and it's guess what? Tax cuts for the rich.

The Bush tax cuts from 2001 are set to expire next year. Obama has said he will keep the current rates for all...