I'm not at all inclined to believe this. We see often how staunch liberals can be. The major difference is they have the zeitgeist and contemporary scientific reasoning backing them more often than not. This difference, however, doesn't lampshade the fact that liberals can root for their side just as hard and irrationally as conservatives do theirs. This is the fundamental truth that binds the two conflicting ideologies, and too often people are willing to overlook this fact in order to "win."
Well, this is why I carefully prefixed "matured" onto those descriptors. The nubile young liberal raging against the establishment is indeed irrationally convinced of the fundamental rightness of his or her liberal viewpoints, but that's because those viewpoints tend to be a byproduct of a very real lack of life experience, a brief history of critical thought, and new burdens of responsibility being mounted upon them. As the liberal ages and settles in, they tend to loosen up on the mindless cheerleading and think more critically and pragmatically about their pet issues. They don't fundamentally alter their positions often, yes, but they try to funnel their political goals towards a realistic middle ground rather than to demand seismic shifts. They tend to grow out of seeing "poke them with a stick" as the ideal form of communication between two opposing viewpoints, basically.
For the conservative, this evolution seems to happen in reverse. As they age, rather than gaining empathy and a willingness to consider compromise, they grasp the conservative manifesto ever tighter. They treat those that challenge their viewpoints less and less as esteemed colleagues and more and more as delusional treasonists.
The young adult set has an easy excuse as to why they're inconsiderate, obstinate, selfish, doe-eyed idealists. They're recently removed from being a child, they've just been severed from external dependancy, they're figuring things out. People with mounting decades of life experience have significantly less of an excuse to hiss and scratch like cornered animals when anyone questions their party's dogma, but that's where the finish line seems to put most seasoned Repubs.
