Afta CAFTA

Let me join Matt Yglesias in asking this: Why do libertarians and other free-trade cheerleaders feel the need to give CAFTA their (infinitely reluctant) backing when it is nothing more than a trojan horse bearing monopoly-extending intellectual property rules ignominiously rushed pass a dracula session in congress by bribing reluctant congressmen with porktastic protectionist measures that favor their home states?

Is it just because the bill has the words "free-trade" in it? C'mon folks. This is the Bush Administration we're talking about here. Don't take the bait so easy. The tree-huggers weren't fooled by the "healthy forest" intiative, you know. You didn't hear of any environmentalists sighing "well, the Clean Air Act is complete bullshit, but I gotta support it to keep the pro-environmentalism ball rolling."

Being pro-free-trade does NOT mean being pro-CAFTA. If CAFTA is a bad bill likely to do more harm than good, then don't support it just for the sake of appearances. I'm looking at you, Tyler Cowen. In the long run you will be doing more harm than good to cause of free trade.