Fred Barnes declares the end of small government:
Political pundit Fred Barnes showed up at Grover Norquist’s Wednesday Group meeting this week and shocked some of the 100 or so conservative interest-group representatives in attendance by appearing to throw in the towel on limiting government, according to e-mails and phone calls from several persons who were present.
“President Bush thinks, and I agree, that we are not going to have smaller government,” Mr. Barnes said at the meeting. “Ronald Reagan tried to do it and gave up. Newt Gingrich did it and gave up. We are going to have a government of big size.”
In a separate discussion with Ralph Z. Hallow of The Washington Times, Mr. Barnes said he made those remarks at the meeting as part of his discussion of his latest book, “Rebel-in-Chief: How George W. Bush Is Redefining the Conservative Movement and Transforming America.” “I am a small-government conservative myself,” Mr. Barnes told Mr. Hallow yesterday. “But,” Mr. Barnes added, “it’s unrealistic to think it is ever going to happen in our country. Bush recognizes it. He’s going to use big government for conservative ends.”
I tend to agree. I wonder how much Fred paid for that hacienda he recently acquired. A margarita or three sounds pretty good about now. Vote or don’t vote, you’re going to get bigger government and you’d better accept it nicely or President Clinton version 2.0 (Extreme edition) will have to use the Patriot Acts against you.
UPDATE: In case you’re still dubious, you might wish to pay attention to the words of conservative Republican icon Arlen Spector. “The Republican Party is now principally moderate, if not liberal!” exulted Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), after the Senate — including a majority of Republicans — approved his budget-busting amendment to spend an extra $7 billion on domestic programs.