Sometimes, you just gotta kick back and grin at Republicans, but only because it’s illegal to slap them upside the head.

Take, for charming example, former Rep. Mark Neumann who is currently running  as the teabagger  candidate for Wisconsin’s open Senate seat.   Neumann is running on a platform calling for the immediate end to the 2009 stimulus program because, you know, the government shouldn’t be stimulating business growth during a recession.

Mark Neuman: Having More Than Plenty

Unless, of course, said business is owned by …. er, there must be a mistake here because it says Mark Neumann.  Holy cow, it is Mark Neumann.  Right there is his name on an $80,000 stimulus check from the government.

Faced with this seemingly greedy, hypocritical, cantankerous, folly filled fact, Mark Neumann had a very good explanation.

Neumann on Thursday argued that because the grant program he benefited from started as a Bush-era tax credit, it shouldn’t be viewed as part of the 2009 economic stimulus law signed by President Barack Obama.

Oh, so it’s okay if Bush did it but not if Obama did it.

But, it gets worse.  It always does.

Mark Neumann admitted  that he took the stimulus money for his business but explained it this way:

Neumann’s company applied for and received the grant because having the money upfront was more beneficial than waiting for the tax credit, Neumann said.

“Clearly the taking of the payment allows me to reinvest the money sooner,” he said.

And who should Mark Neumann thank for this good thing?  Why, President Obama, of course.  The Bush stimulus money came in the form of tax cuts.  President Obama added the upfront money as a grant.

But, there’s even more, more, more.

Come to find out, this man who rails almost continually against federal stimulus money got caught with his pencil in his drawers, so to speak.

Last year it was revealed that a private school he started in Phoenix as an alternative to public schools there received $174,007 in federal stimulus money.

Neumann said then that he wasn’t aware of the award.

Oh Honey, there’s a whole mess of things you’re not aware of — honesty, fairness, ethics, dignity, honor, consistency, unselfishness …. somebody grab a thesaurus for me.

Thanks to Brian for the heads-up.