Why Mike Pence is becoming THE star of the conservative movement (what's left of it, that is, in the sense of "limited federal government") -- appearing on Fox News Sunday, he said:
Well, I believe President Bush has been an extraordinary commander in chief. I believe he's demonstrated what it is to practice honor in your personal life, in Congress. And in his heart, I believe he is a conservative man.
But when you look at the domestic initiatives of the last five years, a 50 percent increase in the federal Department of Education, national testing in the fourth and eighth grade, and, candidly, Chris, when you look at the creation of the first new entitlement in 40 years, it is hard to argue that on the domestic level, up to this point, this president has practiced a conservative agenda at home.
He goes on to specifically mention the Medicare prescription program and No Child Left Behind, both of which he voted against, and calls for bringing back the line-item veto. And he closes with:
And the course of Republican governance on which turns our policies in Iraq, our posture in the world, our commitment to national defense, the sanctity of life -- all of that turns on our ability to return to our roots, which are limited government, fiscal discipline, and traditional moral values. I believe you'll see the Congress do that, Chris.
People in the public arena must be judged not on what they say they believe, or even on what they are at their core, but on what they do. Mike Pence understands this. It's unclear if George Bush does.
