Republicans rightly opposed the stimulus last year on the grounds that it wouldn't stimulate job growth -- or at least, not as much as cutting taxes and liberating the economy's true job creators, small businesses. Fair enough. But over the past year, Republicans have used the stimulus as a sort of slush fund behind which they can hide their own political cowardice.

For example, it's not easy to tell seniors and veterans who want more money in the form of a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) that, well, there was no inflation last year, so you're not going to get that increase. So, how do you say no to seniors and vets if you're a Senate Republican? You don't! All you have to do is find a way to split the baby, and that's exactly what many Senate Republicans did last night: they supported an amendment -- offered by a Republican -- that would have given seniors and vets an additional $250 this year -- because hey, they want it! -- as long as the money came from unobligated stimulus funds.

Beautiful, right? They knock out a few birds with this stone. They get to remind people that the stimulus isn't working and could be used for better things. They get to tell seniors and vets they voted to give them checks, but the Democrats preferred to use that money to grow the government and opposed Republicans. And, at the end of the day, since they lost, at least money won't be spent on these checks that, in their heart of hearts, they didn't really think these folks deserved anyway.

This sounds to me like the same shenanigans Republicans pulled when they ran the show in Washington, and I worry that it signals they haven't learned their lesson: that good governing requires making hard choices and telling some people "No." And I also worry that Republicans actually buy into the idea that government spending, as long as it's done right, is good for the economy. Maybe, like Democrats, they actually believe this stuff. Republicans defend their vote last night by saying the money was going to be spent on less worthwhile stimulus projects anyway, so they may as well have tried to redirect it. But the problem is, what are these Republicans going to do a year or two from now when there's no stimulus slush fund for them to raid and these same folks want another COLA check they don't deserve? Are Republicans going to find the courage then to vote no? I doubt it, because now they're on the record as having supported giving these COLA checks to seniors and vets when there was, in fact, no inflation to justify it. They're setting themselves up for tough decisions – not to mention a bit of hypocrisy – down the road.

Far better, I think, for Republicans to let Democrats go down with the sinking stimulus ship. Republicans need to keep their hands out of that stimulus bill, or people might end up thinking there's not much difference between them and Democrats.