TPMDC has been doing a nice job covering the dynamics of the stimulus bill in Congress, but this post is a little weird:

Republicans have blanketed the airwaves in the past week, carrying a single message that’s been well-amplified, with almost no skepticism…

[several examples follow]

Mark Zandi, a Republican economist who advised John McCain’s presidential campaign, has been stressing this point for months. Zandi’s research showed a corporate tax cut delivering $0.30 in real GDP growth for every $1 invested, an alternative minimum tax patch delivering $0.48 for every $1 invested, and a regular tax rebate delivering anywhere from $1.02 to $1.28 for every $1.

Compare that to aid to state governments, which Republicans have roundly criticized: $1.36 for every $1 invested. Infrastructure spending delivers a whopping $1.59 in GDP for every $1.

But it’s not just Zandi making this point. The Congressional Budget Office — you know, the guys with the incomplete stimulus report that Republicans absolutely loved last week — deemed last year that corporate tax cuts are “not a particularly cost-effective method of stimulating business spending.”

So why is Washington still having this conversation about tax cuts? It’s time to talk about why business tax breaks in the stimulus bill amount to $24.9 billion — a small share of the overall package, yes, but more than double the amount that was invested in rail and mass transit.

Republicans are getting away with this because they are good at communications. Democrats, who have the facts on their side and big majorities, are not. But it’s very strange that Democrats aren’t just playing this badly, they’re barely showing up. Other than Rep. Peter DeFazio, the only other Democrat I’ve seen on TV with any regularity is Rep. Paul Kanjorski, last seen barely holding on to his House seat, on CNBC sounding quite sympathetic to the Republican cause.

Now that TPMDC has noticed that Republicans have the field all to themselves, why don’t they get the Dem leadership on the record about why they feel comfortable sittng this one out?