The Shrill Are Legion...

Jonathan Chait counts coup on David Frum:

The Plank: A few years ago I wrote a column making the point that George W. Bush's economic agenda is essentially the accumulated desires of his financial backers. Whether he goes right (say, taxes) or left (Medicare, farm subsidies, tariffs, etc.) he's going along with K Street. In response, National Review's David Frum sneered: "Can anyone seriously believe that the reason that George W. Bush signed the prescription drug bill was to please American business?"

But now serious people, and not just us rabid Bush-haters, have come to recognize the business lobby played a major role in shaping the Medicare bill in particular and Bush's agenda in general. I give you one prominent conservative... writing today for Cato Unbound: "I think it's been fairly established now that the Republican party responds far more attentively to the practical needs of business constituencies than to the abstract principles of free-marketeers.... Republicans worked a lot harder to ensure that the prescription drug benefit relieved businesses of the burden of their past prescription drug promises than to protect taxpayers."

In case you didn't click on the link, the author is David Frum. Apology accepted, David.