Conservative Think Tank Thinking Less

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Oh how sad. The venerable conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute–so flush during the go-go years of the Bush administration–is having a budget crisis, reports the Washington Independent. The group that launched so many of the worst neoconservative ideas of the Bush era (remember those guys who wanted to privatize Social Security and bring democracy to Iraq?) has watched helplessly as its long-time corporate benefactors have hit the skids and no longer have the luxury of funding loony political “scholars.” Perhaps we should consider this one of the few upsides of the nation’s grim economic crisis: a few conservatives are actually going to have to work for a living, or discover the pitfalls of retiring during a bear market!

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