Friedman was a Keynesian heretic. Instead of looking at aggregate demand he was looking at the total money supply. The basic problem is that he lacked an understand of the boom itself and focused entirely the bust's mechanics.

The argument for inflation goes back much further than Friedman. Emperor Diocletian tried it and failed. Despots throughout history have attempted it as well and failed (eventually). Inflation "works" in the short term but eventually you pay the price for it in the form of a bust.

I guess that the bad guys liking something isn't entirely sufficient but it should be fairly damning evidence.

The argument goes back to ancient Rome at least, with the devaluing of the denarius.