So, President Bush is on the campaign trail and the headline is this:

Bush: Kerry Wants to Expand Government

Every self-respecting fiscal conservative will gag upon reading:

Seeking to gain ground against Sen. John Kerry, President Bush said Thursday that his Democratic opponent “wants to expand government” in education, health care, taxes and virtually every other area of domestic policy.

I will be voting for Bush–but not because I believe this talking point tripe. It wasn’t Kerry who signed into law such behemoth government expansions as the No Child Left Behind Act and the abominable Medicare prescription drug entitlement. Bruce Bartlett has more on Bush’s big government conservatism; see also here and here. W. James Antle asks: What are big government conservatives trying to conserve?

And who are they trying to kid?

Update: Andrew Ferguson has a new piece along the same lines.