Perhaps. Or perhaps it was meant to specify that they, themselves, might have been presumed to be an outlier who would think it was a good idea, but who has in

Perhaps. Or perhaps it was meant to specify that they, themselves, might have been presumed to be an outlier who would think it was a good idea, but who has in fact come to think that is a bad idea. Examples of this kind of counter-presumptive use of the word "even": 1: On animals and the weather: "It was so cold that even polar bears were suffering from frostbite and frozen digits." 2: On politics, where one's general stance is well-known and who who might be rationally presumed to be a supporter of a particular thing: "Even I think that this issue is a total non-starter." Even if they may have meant something else, that doesn't mean that they didn't intend for the words to be taken non-literally.