Nobody is Perfect, but the Republicans Aren't Even Trying

There's an old adage "insanity is repeating something that didn't work in the past and expecting a different result."
I still do not think the stimulus bill the President signed here today is everything it should be. It is probably a case of too little spread too thin. I was even willing to cut Republicans some slack for their "Did Not Participate" tactic, but that is over now. As I examine the plans they submitted and the changes they demanded for the cooperation they did not give, I find they are still a party of old answers that did not work before and cannot work now.
The Grand Old Party is just that, old and tired. While the President was signing the bill he compromised too much on in a spirit of bi-partisanship, the Republicans were on the steps of the Capitol in Denver, protesting that the stimulus bill was a pork-laden over-spending bill that will lead our children and our children's children to the poor house and their ideas were rejected out of sheer partisanship.
Yes, the tab is a big one and paying for it depends on it's success as a stimulus (which I am convinced the GOP will do everything it can to prevent), but it holds new approaches to problems caused by the Grand Old Party of same-old, same-old.
I've heard some TV pundits suggesting that the Republicans are in a winning position because they can say they knew it wouldn't work if it fails. I think they are in a losing position. If it succeeds, they were not part of the bill and cannot claim any of the credit. If it fails, it will be because they did not come to the negotiations in a spirit of cooperation, but one of "our way or no way." Their failure to understand that they are not the party in power, that their party is largely to blame for the current mess and their failure to come up with innovative and useful help in fixing the problems just proves how truly out of touch they are. The American people want a solution to the hydra of trouble this country is in and they are far more tolerant of genuine efforts that miss the mark that of obstructionist efforts to stifle honest attempts.
While Congressional Republicans and our own Colorado Republicans are protesting that the stimulus will not work, they are undermining one of the things that is most important -- American confidence that the bill will help our situation. There are those who will hear only the Republican downbeat message. they will forget the extra money in their monthly checks, they will continue to act as if we are going down the tubes and, if they are successful enough in pulling others into the pity party, they may even be the cause of our country's downfall. Far better to give the bill a legitimate chance, stop the nay saying and work with the President to improve the situation. They should not demand that their answers are non-negotiably the only answers and, when their old tried and failed ideas are disregarded, scream that the bad old Democrats were partisan. Wake up and smell the coffee, GOP, for the times, they are a changin'! (how was that for mixing metaphors?)