Politics involved? No, just stimulus...

Arnold Kling, back in February:

it is a reparations bill, not a stimulus bill. People who pay income taxes tend to vote Republican. People who live off taxes tend to vote Democratic. To the Democrats, the Bush tax cuts were a heinous evil, comparable to Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality in World War I. Now, they are demanding reparations, with hundreds of billions of dollars to be paid into teachers unions and other members of the coalition that won the election.

There were lots of reason to believe that it was a bill which would benefit Democrat constituencies, rather than stimulating the economy. And they'd even admit it, albeit anonymously ("this is a once-in-a-25-year opportunity to [implement] a lot of our agenda," a top House Democratic aide says").

So there really shouldn't be much surprise at this:

Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college. The reports show the 872 counties that supported Obama received about $69 per person, on average. The 2,234 that supported McCain received about $34.

Anger? Sure. Outrage? Absolutely appropriate. Surprise? Nope...

Maybe it's just an accident. After all, the White House is quick to assure us that "there's no politics at work when it comes to spending for the recovery." That's believable, right? There's a tremendous pile of money being distributed by politicians, but "there's no politics at work."

(Once again, the contempt in which this administration holds the populace is one its least attractive characteristics. Do they really believe that people are stupid enough to buy that? "Beware of politicians" is obviously a truism, but when those politicians claim not to be involved in politics, that's even more disingenuous than usual...)