State flexibility on welfare: One more thing Republicans wanted under Bush, hate under Obama

Republicans are continuing their giant hissy fit over the Obama administration's states' rights move on welfare-to-work. If you're confused, thinking "but don't Republicans always want states to get to do whatever they want, no matter how despicable," remember that more than anything, Republicans want to attack President Obama.

So in 2005, a number of Republican governors wrote a letter asking for just the sort of waivers allowing flexibility on welfare-to-work rules that the Department of Health and Human Services has announced it will grant:

And in 2012, opposing Barack Obama at all cost:

Appearing on the television program "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, called the waivers "a trap."

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, also entered the fray, saying that President Obama "wants to strip the established work requirements from welfare."

Nothing these people say about policy should ever be taken seriously until they've said it both when Republicans and Democrats are in power.