Ireland then and now

Here's an interesting article by Jonathan Chait in the New Republic comparing right-wing views of Ireland before their recent fiscal crisis, when it was considered a free market utopia, to afterward, when the blame is placed everywhere else.

It was not long ago that Ireland was every American conservative's beau ideal of a European state. Low taxes, low regulation, it was the perfect case study in the success of free market policies. ...

Sadly, the Irish fiscal crisis has prompted a quick realization that Ireland was not actually the free market state we thought it was. Indeed, it turns out to represent Obama-ism run amok.

It's really pretty funny, and Chait includes all sorts of quotes, pre- and post-crisis, backing it up. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, political pundits never have to be right.

And most of us never learn from experience, either. Indeed, we'd rather revise history than learn from it.