Real Life Conservative Consequences posted by Ben

I'm out running errands today, so most of the updates will take place this evening, but I wanted to get this note from the new Think Progress blog out sooner.

It's a fascinating piece on what has happened to their ideology when Republican D.C. politicians have returned to their home states and become governers. Surprisingly, many have discovered just how ineffective policies that they advocated are in real life and have been forced to make 180 degree turns in their thinking.

As Think Progress notes,

Their behavior, once they leave Beltway fantasyland for the real world, shows just how out of touch today’s conservative ideology is with solving real problems. For instance, as a congressman, Ernie Fletcher was a reliable vote for Bush administration cuts to health care and Medicaid. Now, as governor of Kentucky, Fletcher told Fox News in January that he’s “very concerned about any cuts” to Medicaid proposed by the President. Similarly, as a congressman, Bob Riley was a reliable vote for Bush-backed tax cuts to the richest 1 percent of the country. But as governor of Alabama, Riley pushed a statewide initiative to raise taxes on the rich
and wealthy corporations.

Here's the full article: Think Progress: Conversions on the Road to Reality