(Adapted from / shared by Bradley Allen / CC license)

Last week, Chris Bowers summarised the Republican strategy on the stimulus bill:

[T]he actual Republican strategy is not to offer an alternative, but to:

1. Complain about one small aspect of the bill at a time, such as contraception funding, non-existent CBO reports, non-existent earmarks and, now, ACORN.
2. Demand that, in the name of bi-partisanship, that small aspect of the stimulus be dropped.
3. Secure meetings with Obama, in order for these complaints and demands to appear relevant to the national media.
4. Hope that, as Digby notes, Democrats in Congress and / or liberal activists grow publicly angry with President Obama if / when he makes these concessions in order to secure more Republican votes. Thus, Republicans are fulfilling Obama’s vision (even though they oppose the stimulus) while Democrats are thwarting it (even though they are writing and supporting the stimulus).

Rinse, lather, repeat.

Quite.

The news yesterday features the latest ride on the merry-go-round:

Senate GOP leader criticizes auto provision in stimulus bill

The Senate’s top Republican criticized a key provision for automakers in an $819 billion House stimulus bill.

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky., criticized a provision to give the federal government $600 million to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles, calling it “wasteful spending.”

He told CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday that the provision shouldn’t be in the stimulus bill, and ridiculed it as “$600 million to buy new cars for government workers.”

Related posts:

1. The Republican Senators who voted for the stimulus bill, Round II: The final bill If you were in any suspense about which Republicans voted...
2. The Democrats who voted against the stimulus bill in the House, part II: Once more round the bend So the vote is in; the US Representatives in the...
3. Will the grapes of the House GOP’s wrath turn out to be sweet for the Democrats? I already noted that the significant dilution of the stimulus...
4. Polling the stimulus You may have seen Karl Rove opine in the WSJ that "support for...
5. Stimulus bill comes out of conference. While it’s distasteful to see the centrists crow, the bill doesn’t look bad. So the Conference Committee of Senate and House honchos has...