Partisan fiscal policy

[GMUresearch]

Armchairs, As the US recession looms larger and longer, Bush and his folk are found in the uneasy position of trying some active fiscal policies... In a very simplistic macro view, raising public expenditures or lowering taxes (in the short run) were both considered "expansionist" fiscal policies--at least in the sense that both increase public sector deficits... they are equivalent policies. However, in real world policymaking, republicans prefer lower taxes and democrats would rather have more expenditures... as if they were different policies. Does this partisan/ideological asymmetry have any real effect?  Is the equivalence for real... in the short run... in the long run?  Do people perceive them as different too? More practically, what is easier to get, lower taxes or higher expenditures?  Does this apply to the federal as well to the state level? any reactions? -JA