Republicans are just getting started. Opposition to the stimulus bill is just round one, so heads up, Democrats.
Whoever doesn't recognize Karl Rove's playbook at work, copied virtually verbatim from Hitler's handler, Joseph Goebbels, isn't paying attention (somehow it seems appropriate he spells his name "Karl" and not "Carl").
Recent Republican strategies opposing the stimulus bill illustrate perfectly at least five of Goebbels' 19 principles of propaganda (http://www.psywarrior.com/Goebbels.html): spin truth into a lie when the truth is less credible or will produce less desirable effects (#11); utilize material from the enemy (Obama) when it helps diminish that enemy's prestige or lends support to the propagandist's own objective (#10); employ leaders with prestige (Lindsey Graham, et al) to facilitate the propaganda (#12); utilize propaganda to label events and people with distinctive, memorable phrases or slogans (#14); and time your propaganda carefully by beginning at the optimum moment for maximum effectiveness (employing a surprise attack, Republicans were completely silent about the bill until it hit the floor for debate) (#13).
I might add one: nitpick the thing to death, stabbing it with your steely knives, all the while repeating over and over "We are Obama's friend and want him to succeed."
Rewind to 2004 and the hugely successful Swift Boating of John Kerry, Rove's strategically powerful gift to Republicans that keeps on giving today, to remind yourself how effective #14 was (hell, they all were!). Kerry's media crucifixion and subsequent loss put so much fear into the hearts of Democrats that it is causing even today's "moderate" Democrats (hello, you won!) to waffle and then downright wobble as they watch momentum build for the current Republican strategy (momentum that built in the media, may I remind you, while propagandists have their choir believing it's a liberal media).
Obama does well to stand up to them, taking a page from Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer (http://www.cesarmillaninc.com), who teaches that you have to firmly and assertively let the insurgent know who the real leader is (psssst: it's not them!). All other Democrats (not to mention what there is of any REAL liberal media) must join Obama to learn Millan's most important lesson: to be ever vigilant and foil any disingenuous opposition, as this one was, even before it starts.
Fortunately, if you are a thinking human being, this is not difficult. You must pay attention, and know that to unimaginative little Komodo dragon Rovian lizard brains, this kind of behavior is the default, and they will never willingly give it up. I mean, it worked so well in 2004, and they have no other playbook.