Battle Brews Over Bush Library

[trthnd4jstc]

Source: Politico

Former President George W. Bush is preparing for one final struggle against the odds: raising $300 million for a presidential library, museum and policy institute at a time when dollars are tight and skepticism about his presidency runs high.

The former president and first lady have already begun holding small private dinners to persuade wealthy friends to invest in a monument and incubator based on the values and events of his presidency. By this fall, he’ll be armed with architect’s renderings and will hold travel around the country to meet with groups and build support for the complex on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Some of his new neighbors are less than thrilled with the plan, with a handful of history and political science professors lined up to criticize it.. But SMU fought hard to win the library, as one of eight original bidders and then four semi-finalists for the honor.

“We’ve certainly had to defend our decision, but absolutely feel like it was the right one,” SMU’s president, R. Gerald Turner, told POLITICO. “The overall sentiment on the faculty is that whether they agreed with the president personally or not, it’s great to have these papers and this resource on campus.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19996.html

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It is amazing that there is a possibility that the $300 Million but the "presidential library, museum and policy institute" may not actually get built.
What's the use. There was nothing that the former president can add to history. The damage that his admininistration performed upon our nation will be something that we will have to muddle through for 20 years or more. Gee, Thanks George Bush. Not!

[MrPerson]

1. The Clinton Library cost 165 mill

[trthnd4jstc]

2. Bush inflated our national budget, and his library is at an inflated cost. n/t

[hyphenate]

44. Not to mention the cost of all the bribes needed

to give the illusion it was a "hard fought" victory to get the "honor" of hosting it.

[TankLV]

20. And all the idiot repukes wailed and howled at the COST of that one!!!

but aparently an edifarce for a WAR CRMINIAL is okie dokie...

[Baby Snooks]

3. One sleazy president defending another....

“We’ve certainly had to defend our decision, but absolutely feel like it was the right one,” SMU’s president, R. Gerald Turner, told POLITICO. “The overall sentiment on the faculty is that whether they agreed with the president personally or not, it’s great to have these papers and this resource on campus.”


The majority of the faculty according to some are still opposed but fear for their futures if they speak out. And a majority of Methodist Church leaders are still opposed. But the president has spoken. Everone is to support the library. And if they don't, well, expect the "men in black" to knock on your door. If not the men in black dispatched by the Bush cabal, the men in black dispatched by the board of SMU.

They will raise the money quite easily. If nothing else, they can have Karl Rove call everyone and remind them of their "high crimes and misdemeanors" and then the checks will start rolling in.

It is a disgrace but then Dallas always has been a disgrace. It's where the worst of our politicians in Texas always seem to retire. And always seem to do extremely well. Living off the "payback" or just off the blackmail.

SMU can paint a pretty picture if it wants. History will not.

[trthnd4jstc]

7. I believe it was a bad decision by SMU (Southern Methodist University)

http://www.smu.edu/

Here is an article about a liberal failing to prevent a Bush Think Tank: http://smu.edu/bushlibrary/excerpts/jurisdiction-approval-nys-18july2008.asp
That is so Funny! I mean, Bush having a Think Tank!

[bulloney]

9. Think tanks are like septic tanks: You get out what you put in them.

[trthnd4jstc]

13. The Bush Administration was a Septic Tank. n/t

[okoboji]

4. What?? Bookmobiles cost $300 million? n/t

n/t

[happygoluckytoyou]

5. THE FIRST BOOK IS ALMOST READY... as soon as the pop-ups are added

[madrchsod]

6. there is still a court case pending at smu

[greenkal]

8. Why is Obama allowing him to have one?

Why allow him this honor?

[madrchsod]

15. the smu/methodist church still has a internal "court" case

[davidinalameda]

23. I don't think that Obama can stop him from having one

[tanyev]

42. Because he's not a dictator?

[Submariner]

10. That LIEbrary is going make one hell of an Al Qaeda target someday

don't go near it.

[trthnd4jstc]

18. LIEbrary? Nice. Nice word. Thanks for your post! Copywrite that word!

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. I have a better idea for a Bush momument: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

and part of a face, with a frown, wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command. Lying somewhere close by. Then we'd just have to pick which desert to leave it in.

[trthnd4jstc]

17. In my imagination, my memorial for Bush has him fleeing people with pitchforks.

[Unca Jim]

30. Gotta love...

an Ozymandius reference.

Sadly, the former President wouldn't get it.

[jmowreader]

41. But too many things beside remain!

We all look on his works and despair.

[jwirr]

12. The university should have told him no. Most presidential libraries

are not connected to other institutions. Why can't he just fill a shed on his cowboy farm with his junk? I have visited the Herbert Hoover Library and it does just fine on its own. Actually it is a nice site with a lot of interesting items. The most interesting were the flour bags that Europeans painted on and sent to him in thanks for what he did about hunger after WWI.

[liberalhistorian]

33. I remember visiting the JFK library

about twenty years ago; what a fantastic experience. I even bought a collection of actual tapes of his major speeches. I can't even begin to imagine the puny contrast between that and Junior's liebrary.

[XemaSab]

14. The good liberals of Texas DESERVE a gathering spot

:evilgrin:

[onehandle]

16. The Museum of Bullshit. nt

[L. Coyote]

19. IMO, First, they should have to produce all the e-mails..... and

finish their jail terms :rofl: then they can have their library.

[empire we are]

21. If the Crazies could fund The Creation Museum

then they'll find a way to fund this abomination.
Facts and evidence be damned. History WILL be rewritten!

[Pharaoh]

22. A monument to Failure

[trthnd4jstc]

24. Yep.

[Believing Is Art]

25. The should scrap the library for a Bush Memorial Dog Park

Poop bags optional.

[PSPS]

26. Politico is the Fox News of the blogosphere

Their RW GOP slant is pretty blatant. This piece is really just another of Politico's hagiographies of bush.

[caseymoz]

27. I'm happy to see that Bush might be in prison before his library is built.

I can't think of a better outcome. What the hell would a Bush library have in it anyway?

Probably not all the de-classified documents and minutes of secret meetings. Probably not any evidence of how he spent the missing years of his National Guard service. As Bush himself said, "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."

How about his great speeches? Umm. Well, then, how about his great quotes . . . ? How about all those photo-ops, including "Mission Accomplished?" HMaybe they fill it up with mass-market paperbacks.

In fact, which of his wise quotes are they going to inscribe at the base of his monument? Here are some that might fit:

"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system."

"One of the things important about history is to remember the true history."

"Forms of government matter, in my opinion. It matters how -- the nature of the government in which people live."

I know also he'll be the one that chooses the monument design, so we know it's either going to be a joke or an aesthetic monstrosity. Maybe the artist will have a sense of humor. He or she would have to.

Museum? I'm 100 percent certain there's going to be a Bush museum anyway, whether it's one he authorizes or not. I mean, it was too big of a tragedy for the whole world for there not to be one, and people know that. The appropriate place would be Guantanamo, but that wouldn't make it accessible to enough people.

In other words, this is the most pointless projects imaginable.

[trthnd4jstc]

28. It would be best to use the money for charity. It makes no sense for W to have any structures

dedicated to his presidency, his thoughts, or his policies. His presidency was possibly the most criminal. His thoughts were small, fearful, and short-sighted, and his policies full of lies, manipulation, and murder.

Also, not a single recommend for this post.

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

[caseymoz]

29. His presidency WAS the most criminal. I can support that.

Look at the oath of office:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

He was totally derelict on the first clause. One measure would be: How many vacation days did he take? There are other measures too where he fails remarkably.

For the second part, of course, he completely betrayed the Constitution, stomped on it every day after 9/11.

Those are the only two things a President swears to. He deliberately didn't do either of them. So, no matter what doubts people might have that he was the worst of all time, I would say that no President in history disregarded his very oath of office the way Bush did, therefore, he is the worst president ever. Since his appointees and staff did even more damage, Bush was truly the most criminal presidency. We could never afford to have another one like it. It's one reason why the Repubs and the Conservatives have to defeated totally, and not just because they deserve it.

[FVZA_Colonel]

31. Seriously, what is going to be in this fucking building?

Pop-up books?

[Suji to Seoul]

38. The Hall of Vacation? The "Green" Room dedicated to paid off campaign contributors?

A hall of "facts" and a "Wall of Good Americans," like Dick Cheney and Ken Lay.

People will actually go to that waste of space? Where is the "Counter-Bush" library? You know, the RW wingnuts wanted a Counter Clinton library.

Notice all these idiots are suddenly quiet.

[tanyev]

43. A great big vault and a great big gift shop.

[liberalhistorian]

32. It takes 300 million greenbacks to

hold a few copies of "My Pet Goat" and some coloring books and crayons? Sheesh, I guess inflation really is getting out of control.

I wonder if the U.N. "bathroom" note will be included? :evilgrin:

[RJ Connors]

34. Isn't it Ironic though that George maybe won't get his library

because of the economic disaster he brought on the county and now people are too short on money to fund it. One has to love that. I might however, suggest that we do build a monument and museum to Bush and call it, "Never Again", or maybe, "Let the Buyer Beware".

[farmboxer]

35. Bush can't read, so why a library?

Idiot, makes Alfred E. Newman look like Einstein.

[ShockediSay]

36. Maybe the first picture-book presidential library ever nt

[Supersedeas]

47. Maybe the upside-down "Goat Book" will be promeniently on display in the lobby, at least

[Suji to Seoul]

37. Every bathroom in that lie factory will have the Constitution inscribed on the inside of the toilets

and urinals, so everyone can piss and crap all over the Constitution like the AWOL Chimp did.

300 million dollars for a lie factory? What a rip!

[Yavin4]

39. Actually, The Constitution Will Be Printed on the Toilet Paper

So that the visitor can simulate how Bush/Cheney wiped their asses with it whilst in office.

[santamargarita]

40. I'd be in favor of spending money on a very secure jail cell

Does Augusto Pinochet have a library?

[Supersedeas]

45. "whether the faculty agreed with the president or not," the $$$$$ is goooood

[Zhade]

46. Not enough money budgeted for pop-up books?

NT!