When it comes to declared votes for or against the confirmation of Ben Bernanke, the Republican caucus in the Senate is currently mostly opposed. This is really pissing off the Democrats, who feel like they are being made to take the fall for confirming Bailout Ben.

A senior administration official tells POLITICO's Mike Allen:

"It's amazing that Senate [Republicans] can barely muster a majority for a Republican who was named Time's 'Man of the Year' and who served in the Bush White House, was appointed to his current job by President George W. Bush and has the full support of the US Chamber of Commerce and Main Street American business. And their main complaint is that he saved the world from what Jim Cramer has called the 'financial stone age.' Is the minority leader Ron Paul? Someone's learned the wrong lesson from the MA race and it's not President Obama."

This is the kind of rhetoric we saw during the original bailout. Lawmakers who opposed the TARP bill were accused of playing political fiddles while the economy burned. The GOP leadership was criticized for allegedly failing to arrange things so that both parties would be equally to blame for the approval of the unpopular bailout.

Just hearing the return of the Irresponsibilty Narrative makes us think maybe voting against Bernanke's confirmation is the right thing to do.