The broader point here is that even if we accept the existence of conservatives who give a shit about the poor and middle class (dubious proposition, but I suppose a mutant horse is occasionally born with a horn), none of them are willing to actually abandon ideology and look at what might actually work. For years liberals have been sadly content to pursue conservative ends to achieve liberal goals, but years later it's pretty clear that such things generally don't work. Part of the reason they don't work is because conservatives are stingy assholes.
