Ron Paul gets it right, sort of, in an article he has written for CNN:

The problems with stimulus packages are manifold. The primary reason they fail is because they do not address the roots of the problem. If you are unable to identify the cause of your problem, then your solution is doomed to fail.

In the case of the current economic crisis, it had its root in loose monetary policy and easy credit that skewed the allocation of resources within the economy.

He hits the nail on the head in diagnosing the cause of the crisis. Where he might have misfired a bit is in his assumption that the stimulus package was intended to fix the crisis.

Let's redefine the situation from another view. The problem, for big government afficianados, is not the economy, but the lack of government control over it. For them, the economic malaise is not a crisis at all, but an opportunity and the bailouts are not then a solution to the economic downturn, but a means to insert the government in places it never before could exercise direct control. Like, for instance, in the car companies and Wall Street.

From the point of view of the big government crowd, the stimulus was a rip-roaring success.