Stating The Obvious: Is The GOP Tanking The Stimulus For Political Gain?

From Brian Beutler (pronounced Boyt-ler), the young man who was shot by a mugger last summer in DC regarding Republican obstructionism to the stimulus bill.  Playing off of John Cole's post about the purpose of partisanship re the bill:

...If you understand that the core of the Republican party loves nothing more than doing big business' bidding (and I'm sure they'd love to be helping big business right now) then you have to conclude that their current actions are intended to deepen the depression so that the Democratic party fails.

Basically what's happening is that Republicans are looking ahead to November 2010 and November 2012, while big businesses are looking ahead to their coming quarterly SEC filings, and that's bringing the GOP's two chief purposes into tension with each other. My guess is that if Mitch McConnell sat down with the good folks of the Chamber of Commerce, he'd try to convince them to eat big losses now in order to enjoy major perks when Democrats lose power. But that's a Devil's arithmetic that even big business can't countenance. Self-preservation has become the Republican party's only rudder.

Is the Republican Party that craven?  Is being in power so important to the party that they would tank the American public for 2-4 years to achieve it?  Or are Cole and Beutler just cynical?

Hmm.  The House vote on the bill was telling.  Eleven Democrats opposed the bill.  Not one Republican voted for it.  Not one.

Upshot?  I don't think Cole and Beutler are cynical.

Note to self:  Come ON, you lazy hussy.  Will you please write something about the difference between Republican and conservative.

Off topic:  Here is a good discussion between Beutler and Ta-Nahisi Coates in which they discuss Beutler's shooting.