Spending with the Best of ’Em

IN the 2000 Republican primary, Steve Forbes told voters that they should reject George W. Bush because he was too liberal. He backed up his claims with statistics showing that government spending in Texas had increased by 36 percent while Bush was governor. The increase, Forbes noted, was twice that accomplished by the Clinton administration. Forbes added that Bush “talks like a conservative but he governs like a New Democrat.”

Statistics generated by a political campaign should always be viewed skeptically, and Forbes certainly presented the Texas numbers with a view toward maximizing their shock value. But the charge that Mr. Bush is not wholeheartedly committed to the Republican ideal of a lean government can now be evaluated against more data. The facts are striking, and they make Mr. Forbes’s warnings look prescient.