Embarassing on video

Here is Marsha Blackburn making an ass out of herself by making NPR the enemy of her extreme right-wing bloc.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn: "It is a wealthy, educated listening audience. If people want this programming, they're going to be willing to pay for it but the American taxpayer has said, 'get NPR out of our pocket.' They have some sponsors that land in the $1 million plus category."

Aaaand some of the responses from the more educated side of the aisle...

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass: "They want to move to radio silence and when the American people find out about that, they're going to be outraged."

Rep. John Dingel, D-Mich., "Public broadcast is a national treasure... It sheds a little bit of culture on our people, something my Republican colleagues find offensive."

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon: "It's not going to stop NPR, which will go on. What it will cripple is what happens in smaller stations around the country."

Rep. John Larson, D-CT: "Americans are seeing through this... it's an ideological purge under the guise of dealing with the deficit... What they are doing is silencing NPR because it's not on the same ideological frequency as the extreme right."

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-CA. "I guess they figure if they can't catch Bin Laden, they might as well go after Prairie Home Companion. Public broadcasting is twice as popular as the Afghanistan war.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas: "These Republicans just can't tell the difference between Big Government and Big Bird. All things considered, their attack has nothing to do with balancing the budget.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-NJ: "Saying factual information is somehow a liberal bias... we talk about the need for a well-informed public. Today there was a news report on the slow progress the Army is making on seeing that the wounded soldiers get their Purple Heart. This is good reporting. The other side seems to think this is... wait, wait, don't tell me.... biased reporting. We need NPR."

Rep. Carolyn Mahoney, D-NY: "Those who primarily listen to NPR were considerably less likely to hold demonstrably false beliefs. So now our colleagues across the country want to pull the plug on NPR... our colleagues want to fire the messenger. (It) is not a move to save money; it's a move to save face."