Advocates of limited government often joke (otherwise we would cry) that Republicans are the Stupid Party and Democrats are the Evil Party (this is why taxpayers should hide their wallets the moment there’s talk of “bipartisanship,” but I digress).

One of the reasons that the GOP is the Stupid Party is that Republicans generally are easy to manipulate. Most people understand that their enemies don’t want them to succeed. As such, they are — at the very least — skeptical about any advice coming from their opponents (as a Georgia Bulldog, for instance, I wish the coaches of the Florida Gators took suggestions from the Bulldog coaches, but I digress again). Republicans, however, are a tad bit gullible. When statists give them a few kind words and a pat on the head for supporting schemes to expand the burden of government, some Republicans genuinely think that they have a new set of best friends and they become even more likely to surrender to the left. This is so commonplace in D.C. that there’s an unofficial “Strange New Respect” Award, which is given to Republicans who get seduced by those who want to make government bigger and/or to exterminate the GOP.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson may be the next winner of this dubious prize. The New York Times business section has a big article featuring lots of praise for Mr. Paulson from some of the most collectivist politicians in Washington:

Mr. Paulson…has won praise on Wall Street and Capitol Hill, particularly among Democrats, for his role in fashioning solutions to economic difficulties this year. “He has handled this crisis extremely well,” said Representative Barney Frank, the acerbic Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and customarily a scathing critic of the Bush administration. “It’s fair to say that he and almost everybody else failed to anticipate some of these problems. We all underestimated it. What I give him credit for is how rapidly he adapted.” …this month, as Mr. Paulson helped hammer out emergency legislation authorizing the federal government to potentially inject hundreds of billions of dollars into Fannie and Freddie if the government-sponsored mortgage makers weaken further, he spent long hours with lawmakers of both parties. …The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and a critic of the White House, praised Mr. Paulson for changing Mr. Bush’s mind. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who is chairman of the Senate banking committee, is also singing “Kumbaya.” “I’ve watched him grow in the last year, not in terms of intellectual capacity but in his appreciation of how this town works,” says Mr. Dodd.

In the business world, Secretary Paulson never would have taken advice from his competitors on how to land a big client or secure a major deal. Hopefully he will apply the same smarts to the political world and realize that flowery words from the left are a sign that he’s on the wrong path.