Wait a second — you’re telling us that two Assembly Republicans totally disagree with the concept of the stimulus package, but also that they think Nevada didn’t get enough in the stimulus package? What kind of reasoning is that? It’s like a member of a criminal gang who refuses to take part on principle when the gang robs a bank, but then bitches because his cut is too low! Hey, Lefty! You didn’t even want to rob the damn bank in the first place, so shut up!

But that’s the story in today’s Review-Journal, after U.S. Sen. Harry Reid delivered his every-other-year address to the Nevada Legislature. Sure, President Barack Obama moved mountains and overcame nearly unanimous Republican objections to even pass the stimulus. Sure, Reid moved with dispatch to get the stimulus through a Senate that might have been able to block the bill. Sure, Nevada is getting some much-needed help because of the stimulus. So, sure, why not lead with quotes from critics in the caucus that has virtually no influence whatsoever on state politics?

“Our state is far below the average state based on population,” said Heidi Gansert, Assembly minority leader.

“I wish we would have gotten more,” added Assemblyman Lynn Stewart.

Hey, you know what quotes we never saw in the R-J? The ones in which Gansert and Stewart called on U.S. Sen. John Ensign and U.S. Rep. Dean Heller to stop being such obstructionist a-holes and pass the stimulus so that Nevada residents could get a little relief from their economic suffering! You know why we didn’t read those quotes? Because Gansert and Stewart never said them! In fact, they oppose the stimulus on principle!

Check it: “They both [Gansert and Stewart] said they were not fans of the stimulus package in the first place. But Stewart said that according to his analysis based on population, Nevada should be getting closer to $8 billion. “They offered no further details.”

You know what? There’s a really good argument to be made that Nevada is getting shortchanged by the stimulus bill. You can parse the numbers by population, by the number of out-of-work workers, or by other measures, and see that. The investigative journalism website ProPublica has some nifty charts, in fact.

But you know who doesn’t get to make those arguments? You guessed it: People who were against the stimulus package in the first place! And do you know why? Because, for them, the stimulus is supposedly bad policy. And that means that — if you really believe the stimulus was wrong — you CANNOT argue Nevada got too little money. You MUST argue that ANY money Nevada got was TOO MUCH!

That’s only if you really believe the stimulus was bad, of course. Since Stewart is saying that Nevada should have gotten $8 billion, but only ended up with $1.5 billion, he’s admitting both that the stimulus is legitimate and that he’s so hopelessly conflicted in his Republican heart of hearts, he should probably sit down and stop talking for at least a week.

In the meantime, did anybody say thanks to Reid for at least helping to get a stimulus package in the first place?