The irony is that Republicans completely out of power as 2009 and 2010 oppose big government + liberal initiatives in almost unity. Look how many Obama bills the NE RINOs voted against those two years. Alternatively Republicans in power, especially meaning a Republican POTUS push big government + liberal stuff and get Republicans in congress to go along with it(examples 2004 to 2008), way more than if Democrats were in power. Much of this is to be able to tell voters that they accomplished something, In the case of GWB in 2007 he was trying to build a legacy (well he got one.).
The way Peter Schiff put it in 2009 was :”Republicans out of power act like Republicans, but when in power they act like Democrats”
This is something the ‘Republicans in power are ALWAYS better than Democrats in power’ crowd won't talk about.
When Boner & McConnell did absolutely NOTHING to get rid of Obamacare(which is patently unconstitutional, and the vast majority don’t want it)that told me all I needed to know about these useless cowards in the D.C.GOP.