A Bush in the hand is priceless for AEI

In the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the Heritage Foundation was the most influential rightwing thinktank in Washington.

Nowadays, that distinction belongs to the American Enterprise Institute. A glance at the AEI's list of scholars and fellows provides swift confirmation of the cosy ties between the thinktank and the White House. Lynne Cheney, wife of the vice-president, is a senior fellow; David Frum, a former speechwriter for the president, is a resident fellow; and Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser before the war, also has a desk there.

The AEI today made the front pages of the Guardian, which reported that the ExxonMobil-funded thinktank had been offering scientists and economists $10,000 each to undermine a report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The AEI sings from the same hymn sheet as the White House, not just on climate change but on Iraq.