When you righties give to Duffy tomorrow, ask if he thinks Paul Ryan is a liar

by folkbum

Sean Duffy is running a losing campaign (so far) up nort' against Dave Obey, Wisconsin's elder House statesman. One of Duffy's longest-running themes is that last year's economic stimulus package was an abject failure. That is, of course, an utter lie.

The broad consensus of economists? It worked. And it continues to work (.pdf). (Many economists note that the original stimulus was probably too small, and too focused on things like tax cuts (.pdf) that don't actually stimulate the economy. And that guy was a McCain supporter!) (UPDATE: More here.)

But don't just rely on economists. I mean, it's just their job to know about these things, but that doesn't mean anything in this day and age. I mean, experts? Come on.

But what about Paul Ryan?

Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree" that "misses the mark on all counts," wrote to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in October in support of a grant application from a group in his district which, he said, "intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs."

Why would Paul Ryan encourage people in his district to use stimulus money to create jobs? Is it perhaps because the stimulus really does, you know, stimulate the economy? (And note that Paul Ryan is hardly the only Republican around reaping the benefits of the stimulus bill that they voted against.)

So your task, conservative readers, should you choose to accept it, is add a question to any donation you might want to give to Duffy (assuming you want to throw that money away). Ask Duffy about Ryan's tacit admission that the stimulus creates jobs and helps the economy. Ask Duffy who's right--him or Paul Ryan (or the scores of other Republicans celebrating stimulus success). Ask Duffy how he can keep calling the stimulus a failure with a straight face.