The Pittsburgh paper is a true organ of conservatism. It is lamenting what it shrinks from saying: This administration's legacy will be the end of any lip service to conventional conservatism. That is, the end of resisting programs on the federal level just because they are federal and not local. Indeed, with the passage of the education bill and the prescription drug act, conservatives will now compete with liberals for fresh entitlements. It will be impossible now to oppose the next giveaway when some claimants contrive to meld themselves into a voting block. Republicans will now drop all pretenses and join the most shameless Democrats in shopping the nation, bit by bit, in exchange for a few percentage points in the polls.
Whether George Bush was motivated to go down this path out of a realistic understanding of modern American electoral realities or by personal conviction, I cannot say. But I can say with conviction that this part of his legacy has already been written.
