MY FOXNEWS COLUMN TODAY calls Bush a Fair-Weather Federalist for his stance against cloning:

Bush ran as a federalist, a respecter of the principles of limited government and enumerated powers that the Framers of our Constitution believed in. But in supporting federal legislation to ban cloning — even therapeutic cloning — Bush is revealing himself as a fair-weather federalist. Coupled with his recent decision to sign campaign finance “reform” legislation despite earlier statements that he regarded it as unconstitutional, this action is endangering Bush’s trustworthiness on the very constitutional principles that got him elected. . . .

As President Bush himself said when he declared Constitution Week on last Sept. 17: “Our Republic would surely founder but for the faith and confidence that we collectively place in our Constitution. And it could not prosper without our diligent commitment to upholding the Constitution’s original words and implementing its founding principles.”

Among those principles, he acknowledged, was “the important and enduring constitutional principle of enumerated powers.”

The principle of enumerated powers, which is a bedrock of federalism, recognizes that the federal government is not empowered to pass laws on every subject that may interest politicians. . . .

When the next election comes, people will be asking Bush, and other Republican office holders, whether they’ve been true to their principles, or whether they’re just fair-weather federalists. At the moment, things aren’t looking very good.

I’m guessing that Ramesh Ponnuru isn’t going to like this.