The Republicans think they have a great thing going with their theme that John Kerry is a "flip-flopper." And at this week's Democrat Convention, the GOP has something there called a truth-squad the purpose of which is to show that Kerry is trying to hide the fact that he is a Big Government Liberal. To
expose Kerry's deception, the Republicans have set up a Web page at DemsExtremeMakeover.com.

Get it? The Republicans are saying that Kerry, by trying to trick us into believing he is something he is not, is undergoing an extreme makeover. At a press conference in New York City, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has said, in case you haven't gotten the message: "We believe for the next four days, the Democrats are going to attempt an extreme-makeover of John Kerry's record."

But, the Republicans are skating here on very thin ice. In fact, they have fallen through the ice. Because on the Big Government issue, President George Bush is the biggest flip-flopper of all!

In modern times, starting with Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in 1964, the GOP has portrayed itself as the Party of small, limited, Constitutional government. In his acceptance speech before the Republican National Convention on July 16, 1964, Goldwater said that freedom
was made orderly in our country "by our Constitutional government." He denounced, "centralized planning" saying that "the cause"-not a cause but THE cause-of the Republican Party was "to resist concentration of powers." He said
government should perform "only ... Constitutionally sanctioned tasks."

The 1964 Republican Party Platform denounced leaders in the Democrat Party because they "have sought the enlargement of Federal power," because they were
"Federal extremists, impulsive in the use of national power, improvident in the management of public funds."

Such individuals "so recklessly disposed," it was said, "cannot be trusted with authority over their fellow citizens." Echoing Goldwater, this Platform said the Federal Government "should act only in areas where it has Constitutional authority to act." As recently as 1999, George W. Bush himself
wrote a book titled "A Charge To Keep" in which he denounced the Federal Government for being "too big and powerful."

He criticized what he called "the new culture" which said, "if people were poor, the government should feed them. If someone had no house, the government should provide one." He said: "We must reduce the reach and scope of the
Federal Government, returning it to its proper, limited role." Oh, and he also said: "I am a fiscal conservative."

Then Mr. Bush was elected President. Did we get "Constitutional government"? Was "Federal power" reduced? Has the Federal Government become smaller? Has the "reach and scope" of the Federal Government been reduced? Has
the President been "a fiscal conservative"? The answer to all these questions is: No! -- A thousand times no!

In fact, George Bush has given us the most un-Constitutional, most powerful, biggest, far-reaching, fiscally irresponsible, intrusive, debt-ridden Federal Government in the history of the universe! If there was, in the "Guinness Book
of World Records," such a category, Mr. Bush, Big Government wise, would be Flip-Flopper Number One.