In catching up with some reading, this from the Nov. 8th New Republic:

Bush last week approved a grotesque and completely indefensible corporate tax bill. If anybody needs a final reminder of this administration’s lack of concern for the national interest—indeed, the lack of a policy process that could even conceivably
advance it—this is it.
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One lobbyist involved in drafting the bill confessed to The Washington Post that the whole thing represented “a new level of sleaze.” In the end, the breaks given out will substantially exceed the cost of the rescinded subsidy, driving the deficit even higher.
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But the ultimate responsibility lies with the Bush administration. It is in Congress’s nature to act like a pig at the trough.The reason this sort of spectacle is so rare is that most presidents have some sense of responsibility to the national interest.
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Previous presidents have done things that have alienated conservatives or moderates or liberals. But is there any president in recent memory who has enacted major legislation that is universally regarded, excepting its direct beneficiaries, as bad public policy? If so, there certainly can’t be one who, like Bush, has done so over and over again. (We’re referring here to the farm subsidies, the Medicare bill, and other giveaways listed above.)