Did the stimulus spending prevent a depression?

It’s been a few years, and the legislation was shoved through very quickly. I’m not an economist, but everything I read then led me to believe the stimulus spending prevented a terrible economic depression. There are some that murmur it did not, or there were better ways to handle it. In general, I still hear today that it did prevent a depression.

In addition to those that believe similarly to me, I’d like to hear the rationale behind the dissenters. Economics is a bit of a dark art in general to me, a high-stakes experiment.

Finally, the GOP/Tea Party like to nail Obama with soaring debt. My contention is McCain would have signed the same legislation and the Dems would be crucifying the GOP if the roles were reversed.