Former Bush speechwriter David Frum on the GOP today and his tough new novel “Patriots.”

Author David Frum.

When George W. Bush told the world after 9.11 it was time to go after an “axis of evil,” the first name attached to that memorable, controversial phrase was that of Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Frum was a darling of the GOP in those days. Up-and-coming neocon. Fierce on Iraq. In-your-face conservative.

It’s been a long decade since then. A long road for David Frum. Ditched by his rightwing think tank. Derided as Republican in Name Only. Turned off by the Tea Party. He says he’s still a true Republican.

But he has a tough story to tell, in a new novel. This hour, On Point: David Frum and “Patriots.”

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests

David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and now, Contributing Editor at the Daily Beast/Newsweek and a contributor to CNN. His new novel is Patriots.

From Tom's Reading List

CNN "Unlike in the Depression, we're not "all in this together." The United States of the 2010s is a much more stratified society than the United States of the 1930s. The media executives who oversee our popular culture lead lives far removed from those of less-advantaged Americans. They sell into a market more internally segmented and subdivided than the market of the 1930s."

Daily Beast "And finally, a word from our sponsor: Patriots is my attempt to think through all that has gone wrong in Washington these past years. I hope you'll find it entertaining, but even more that you'll hearken to its message. I'm bold enough to believe it's worth a hearing. "