He may be right. The real economic damage (inflation?) may not be apparent for a year or two or more, not to mention the power-grabbing details tucked into it.
But that doesn’t mean Republican should jump on board. Stand on principles. Perhaps some of the long-term damage will be visible by the time the 2010 elections roll around. Even if not, even if by then the power grab is complete and we have lost most, if not all, of our liberty, what is to be gained by signing on to demagogued evil? It will only increase Dim contempt for the Publies and confirm them in the belief that demagoguery wins every time.
Our real problem is that the people are now ripe for demagoguing. It’s been building for decades. The fight has to be on the level of getting through to people so that they wake up to the fact that they are being demagogued.
Rove’s too much into finessing in order to win. That’s what got us into this mess.
I agree with and many other commenters here that the GOP should stand on principle whether it is politically positive or not. The stimulus plan is wrong for America. But Rove may be right that it will end up costing the GOP votes if the economy improves in the next year and Obama gets all the credit. That’s a chance the GOP has to take.