who would ever think that a stimulus bill would work? paul ryan's change of heart would have been embarrassing on its own, but it got worse when he was forced to admit that his office had requested money from the 2009 stimulus bill, even though he said that they had not. and even though he said the whole thing wouldn't work. if it wouldn't work, then why did you want some to take home with you? that kind of thing that's happened often enough in recent republican politics that it's become almost its own kind of humor, like a knock-knock joke, or a guy walks into a bar joke. back in 2010, senate republicans wanted a bipartisan commission to reduce the deficit. the bill to do just that failed by six votes, with seven of the republican co-sponsors voting against it. you guys came up with the idea. you co-sponsored it and then you voted against -- as jokes go it was kind of the one where you ring the doorbell and run. >> this law failed by seven votes. when seven republicans who had co-sponsored the bill, had co-sponsored the idea, suddenly