I think the ideas is that if she is smart, intellectual honest, willing to learn and a liberal, that she will eventually be smart, intellectually honest, willing to learn and a conservative.
I think you are correct. Other than being pro life, I was sort of liberal in college. Mildly liberal is a better way of putting it because I hadn’t yet learned how the world really works, just had misguided sympathy towards “the poor”. Within one year of graduating I had an experience that instantly made me a staunch conservative because I had been willing to listen to other ideas and opinions all along. Suddenly, everything I had heard became crystal clear-welfare hurts individuals and society.
Intellectually honest people grow up and become conservatives.