There is a difference between what people like and what they say they like.
And they aren't even lying. They really do want to like the things they say they like and they do not want to like the things they really do like.
Look at my favourite example. Many many people in the west honestly believe that Israelis are evil and that the Arabs are the poor victims of the Jews and that peace would be possible if only the Israelis changed their behaviour. They do believe that. They don't want to believe otherwise.
But they do believe otherwise.
They don't want to admit it and they don't want to believe it but if pressed hard the truth will come out.
No liberal would pretend to be a Jew in Egypt and test his thesis whether Arabs are really so friendly. (Ironically, Jews or Israelis who do travel to Arab countries do not usually feel a need to hide their nationality!)
Or maybe you remember the example a few months ago on Utemia's blog when some German guy went on and on about how the West-German regime is just as bad as the East-German regime and how socialism had so many advantages. All-in-all he said many things that if he had said them about the East-German regime in 1980s East-Germany would have meant trouble for him.
But it turned out he totally and completely trusted the current German regime not to punish him for opposing it.
If he had believed what he said (rather than just wanting to believe it), he wouldn't have spoken up.
And if he had been right, he couldn't have spoken up. He would have been in prison already for earlier criticism of the regime.
This is not even hypocrisy because they really want to believe what they say they believe.
They just don't believe it.
It becomes hypocrisy when they don't want to believe it.
For example, the liberal who supports socialism but does not decide to work for the good of all in his free time (especially when he is unemployed) is a hypocrite.
And the liberal who wants a healthcare system that provides for all for free but does not become a doctor or nurse and works for less than market value is a hypocrite.
But the liberal who really wants to believe what he says he believes but can't. He is not a hypocrite. He is completely honest and yet the hardest to convince.