I completely agree with Josh’s analysis of the pork pie moving through Congress. All the evidence indicates that this bill won’t do much to stimulate the economy, and, according to the CBO, the package even falls short of President Obama’s goal for how quickly money can be dispersed.

But I worry that while the facts may be on their side, Republicans could end up losing this message battle in the long run. And it has to do with a simple and unavoidable fact: Republicans are mean. The economy will recover.

Recovery may happen later this year. It may happen next year. It may happen in three years. But one day the economy will recover, regardless of how effective this stimulus measure turns out to be.

And when the economy does recover, the president and the Congressional majority will crow about the aggressive action they took in the winter of 2009 to stop the Next Great Depression. Imagine how bad things could have been, they will say, if we had followed the Republican course and not acted.

Republicans will be left to insist that the economy would have gotten better even sooner without the massive government spending passed in 2009, an argument that will be impossible to prove, difficult to make, and hard for voters to believe.

So what to do? Probably wring out all the concessions they possibly can from the president, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, and then vote for this thing – while publicizing all the legitimate concerns about excessive spending and lack of stimulation.

It may be painful. It’s almost certainly not right from a governing standpoint. But Republicans shouldn’t start this new Congress in a message deficit, perversely hoping the economy continues to struggle so that voters will finally come around to their way of thinking.

It’s time to break out the barbecue sauce.