Bush Library Courts ‘Wealthy Heiresses, Arab Nations, Captains of Industry’ To ‘Polish’ History
Bush Library Courts ‘Wealthy Heiresses, Arab Nations, Captains of Industry’ To ‘Polish’ History
The New York Daily News reports, “President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign — an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.”
Bush is attempting to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush fund-raisers hope to get approximately $250 million from what they call “megadonations” of $10 million to $20 million each. Among the candidates for “megadonations,” whose names will remain anonymous:
Bush loyalists have already identified wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry as potential “mega” donors and are pressing for a formal site announcement – now expected early in the new year.
Bush allies feel they need enormous funds to shape how history views Bush’s legacy. A Bush insider said, “The more [money] you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert.” Much of the money will be used to build a “legacy-polishing” institute:
The legacy-polishing centerpiece is an institute, which several Bush insiders called the Institute for Democracy. Patterned after Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Bush’s institute will hire conservative scholars and “give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President’s policies,” one Bush insider said.
Bush had earlier indicated his desire to create a think tank “to talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what [French political philosopher Alexis] DeTocqueville saw in America.”
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Think Tank?
More like Propoganda machine.
What a f*cking dumbass.
May the Shrub wax poetic on DeTocqueville from behind bars!
IMPEACH NOW.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:42 amPutting the words Bu$h and think in the same sentence is an oxymoron.
However, they will undoubtedly find a half-billion in contributions from all those folks that GDumbya made even more wealthy during his disastrous “presiduncy”.
$500,000,000 . . . that’ll be a lot of lipstick to put on the pig. But, at the end of the day, it will still be a pig!
November 27th, 2006 at 9:46 am“… Bush’s institute will hire conservative scholars and “give them money to wite papers and books favorable to the President’s policies…”
How is this any different that what is happening now in the federal government?
November 27th, 2006 at 9:49 amIt’s come down to this? Bush PAYING people to say nice things about him? ‘Tis the lonesome life of a bully who’s had his hat handed to him. Bush is the lamest of ducks.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:50 am“The more [money] you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert.â€
So, you can buy your way into heaven after all. Jesus must be proud.
-B
November 27th, 2006 at 9:53 amI should be a requirement that he has to be able to read at least one of the books before opening……
November 27th, 2006 at 9:55 amnow the only friends that play with the boy are there because he has the ball. but it gets worse, because his parents have to “pay to play”
November 27th, 2006 at 9:56 amGee, I did not realize that Bush had Polish roots.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:56 amAre Bush’s papers really going to be available to scholars anytime in the next 25 years?
November 27th, 2006 at 9:58 amYou can buff a turd to a brilliant shine but in the end its still a turd.
November 27th, 2006 at 9:59 am500 Million for a f***ing library???? There are 80 Million People dying of hunger every year (on a planet where there’s actually enough food for everyone) and he wants 500 Mio.!!!!! for a library?????
November 27th, 2006 at 10:00 am(what for – he can’t even read!)
Buying fame? That never stopped the Bushies before, why should it now?
November 27th, 2006 at 10:00 amAre there two threads on the same topic?
November 27th, 2006 at 10:00 ameven clinton included the lewinski/impeachment chapter in his library…
November 27th, 2006 at 10:02 amno such honesty will come from this war criminal…
the whole bunch is delusional…
I wonder if “My Pet Goat” will occupy a prominent position in the foyer.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:07 amBush paying people to write papers eh? Well, it did get him through school….
November 27th, 2006 at 10:09 amThe library will be a curiosity for historians in the decades to come: it sounds like the final result of this project will be likened to that which “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il might construct were he so inclined.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:10 amA building full of propaganda and lies: what a fitting memorial to this unremarkable man’s presidency. All the money in the world won’t change the fact that his presidency is a failure of historic proportions.
I wonder if “My Pet Goat†will occupy a prominent position in the foyer.
Comment by WaltTheMan
Right next to the box of crayons he used for his signing statements.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:11 amAnd it will have “My pet goat” translated to arabic with the foreword by the Emir ??
November 27th, 2006 at 10:17 amMaybe the planned library will actually be a carefully decorated Wal-Mart, with Dumbya as the smiley faced Roll-back:
roll-back education
roll-back civil rights
roll-back civil liberies
roll-back freedom of religion
roll-back endangered species
roll-back environmental quality
roll-back civilization…………
(Roll over onto your back and plead for leniency, Dubious……..)
November 27th, 2006 at 10:17 amDidnt such great chickenhawks like Newt get their feathers ruffled when clinton was looking for donors for his library when he was in office. Lets hear all the quite neo-shills gripe about this little fiasco… another double standard….
November 27th, 2006 at 10:17 am“Bush had earlier indicated his desire to create a think tank ‘to talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what [French political philosopher Alexis] DeTocqueville saw in America.’”
It would be just like George W. Bush to fail to recognize that many of Alexis DeTocqueville’s comments about America were not actually all that complimentary, but in fact rather critical of the way in which he perceived America as failing to measure up to its own ideals. It’s especially ironic given that many of DeTocqueville’s criticisms were directed towards the sort of policies which GWB himself favors. Then again, given Bush’s predilection for attempting to rewrite history…
November 27th, 2006 at 10:22 amWell, no matter how much they write, no matter how nice and polished the library may be, they are still stuck with a dumb loser. In this case it will be “If they build it, no one will come.”
November 27th, 2006 at 10:22 amI just got it. So this is the real reason he has been jet setting all over the world the past few weeks. He isn’t meeting with all these dignitaries to solve the problems in the world. He is schmoozing for money to build his fairy-tale library. Its hard work being a lame duck president…hard work.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:22 amPlease guys- not everything about this presidency was lies. There was that fish he caught…. oh… never mind.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:22 amGood luck trying to write their way out of this disaster.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:22 am“think tank”
November 27th, 2006 at 10:23 amis code for
dunk tank…..
A fitting design would include a large facade, supported by columns in the form of statutes of business men handing money to each other, with their hands stretched over ballistrades in the form of coffins draped with American flags. Several false doors would front the building, each engraved with a Bush lie. The real entrance door would be engraved with an oil well and dollar bills. The inside, of course, should be empty.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:24 amThe Bush, Librrary of Death! Now polish needed!
November 27th, 2006 at 10:26 am“legacy-polishing†institute
What a great euphemism! I love it!
Here are some others:
fertilizer factory
cornucopia of crap
archives of dung
the turd vault
bowel-dredging pavilion
Georgie’s Lie-berry
excellence in excrement
glistening logs
Laura: “George, what are you doing in there? Are you polishing your legacy again?”
November 27th, 2006 at 10:29 amNo library can wash the blood from Bush’s hands.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:30 amI wonder if you’ll find the Geneva Convention under “Q” for quaint.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:30 amI don’t think it will be empty – they’ll need two wings to house examples of critical and satirical bumper stickers.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:32 amI can’t wait to see what items the radical evangelical christian wing of the library might contain….
November 27th, 2006 at 10:40 amlots of little padded closets to be sure………
Ah, “legacy polishing.” This reminds me of the Reagan Legacy Project. The bigger question becomes: what sort of true legacy does one have when you need a multi-million dollar group to tell people just how great your legacy is? Of course, a truly great legacy needs no such spin and marketing.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:51 amBut….but….CLINTON!!
November 27th, 2006 at 10:56 amIs Bush going to have a branch for the NeoCons in his library or the NeoCons will take over the whole library?!
November 27th, 2006 at 10:56 amKing George the Dumb should consider a new approach to his presidential library. Instead of one large concentration in Texas there should be a number of facilities located throughout rural America. There are undoubtedly a large number of there facilities still in existence and underutilized that would fit the bill quite nicely. They all offer a good place to think and an excellent utilization of KGtD’s documents. The advent of indoor plumbing and the passing of the Sears-Roebuck catalog have driven one of the Country’s most famous institutions almost to oblivion. It is time and fitting to KGtD to resurrect the OUTHOUSE, as the regional branch of the KGtD presidential library. Each complete with his portrait hanging in the basement.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:58 am“Bush’s institute will hire conservative scholars and “give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President’s policies,†one Bush insider said.”
In other words, they’ll be paid to paper over his colossal incompetence, abysmal ignorance, and his monumental failures.
Fortunately, this disastrous presidency has already provided historians plenty of material to write about into the next century.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:02 amI wonder how long it took GWB to learn to spell and pronounce “DeTocqueville.”
November 27th, 2006 at 11:02 amI got a win-win situation for everyone idea…
November 27th, 2006 at 11:05 amGive the American people the half-a-billion dollars so we can put it back into Social Security, and we’ll give lil’ georgie this awesome, humungous, brand new, state of the art edifice in the Green Zone. Talk about your legacy……. after all, here it is, right in downtown Bagdhad!
It’s a hell of a deal, georgie, I mean, sure we’re losing money on the deal, but at least it won’t be a total wash……..we won’t be needing it as an embassy after all……..
#38…..
November 27th, 2006 at 11:11 amYou have the best idea yet ….LOL!
aguafierto – it wouldn’t have to be in downtown bagdhad – there’s this GINORMOUS base, the size of vatican city…
November 27th, 2006 at 11:18 amThis will be the Alexis de Tocqueville that said:
“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.”
Yes? Or how about:
“I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”
And so on… Has this moron of a President ever read any of these authors whose names he drops?
November 27th, 2006 at 11:26 amHas this moron of a President ever read any of these authors whose names he drops?
Comment by John C
Um, no. And he always falls asleep during storytime…
November 27th, 2006 at 11:30 amGood. A library with a thousand volumes of My Pet Goat.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:36 amThere goes Bushie again… form over substance. He’s all smoke and mirrors.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:38 amCall Bush’s presidential museum the library of falsehoods and lies!
November 27th, 2006 at 11:51 amHas anyone noticed the look of amazement in a four or or five year old when they first start to read? It’s as if they cannot believe what they are doing.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:54 amJay,
It will be the “Presidential Lie-brary”.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:55 amPost 50 am > yep the “Bush Presidential Lie-brary” sounds about right > lol.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:04 pmI like Chimpeach’s “Lie-berry” best. That’s probably how Bush pronounces it anyway.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:13 pmHOW AMUSING!!!
The Huffington Post reports say George W. Bush needs $500 million dollars for “his legacyâ€. Pray tell, what would that be???
Georgie has never accepted the consequences of his own action, especially in Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Palestine as well. His judgment has proven faulty in war, along with his appointments. If one judges his competence by those surrounding him, he would fail there as well! Bush has not conquered, but has certainly divided our government. His lies and cover-ups have shown he has a tendency to be divorced from all ethics.
Bush has not met the needs of our nation and along with his party has belittled our Constitution and has tried to maintain a monopoly while laughing at checks and balances. The curtain has been brought down on “oversight†under his watch.
That brings me back to my first question, WHAT LEGACY????
November 27th, 2006 at 12:46 pmBush Library Seeks Rich and Influential to Rewrite History…
The guy’s just appealing to his base; what’s wrong with that?…
November 27th, 2006 at 12:48 pmThat brings me back to my first question, WHAT LEGACY????
Comment by leesfirst
I sure wouldn’t want to claim that “legacy.”
His lie-berry should be a burning fireworks stand.
November 27th, 2006 at 12:55 pm$500 MILLION?
Does the Chimperor Boy King God think he’s more important than Lincoln, JFK, Carter, FDR, Clinton, and George Washington?
He’s so frickin’ insane? A Library for a guy who hates to read newspapers and books? Will much of it be funded by Fox News?
Great, rely on sleazy GOPs, Rich Arab oil princes, Oil-loving politicians, and the rest of the Aryan Nations to basically lick up to Bush.
IMPEACH THE BASTARD NOW!
November 27th, 2006 at 12:58 pmDon’t forget the wealthy heiresses….. Paris, is that you?
November 27th, 2006 at 1:04 pmWhat are you getting out of the deal, hmmm?
Your very own disco? Let me guess, you want to be the bouncer, no?
A monument to hubris and incompetence. Better not ask the taxpayers to foot this monstrosity. We’ve already paid the price of letting this selected clown ruin this country. What a joke.
November 27th, 2006 at 1:14 pmhalf-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.
Well, this is an interesting turn of events. Although maybe we shouldn’t be surprised: This is the administration that has mastered the art of “spin”: Spin the truth, spin the facts, and make up a new reality as you go.
A presidential library would allow them to do exactly that, and given the massive failure this administration has proven to be, they will need all the money they can get.
Bush’s institute will hire conservative scholars and “give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President’s policies,†one Bush insider said.
Of course, they need to be paid to write favorable things. Who would do that for free? There is so precious little to speak favorably of in this administration.
Also, I am a tad suspicious about those so-called scholars’ credentials. A genuine scholar will write positive things about whatever was positive in Pres Bush’s term.
Again, they will need all the money they can get.
[...]talk about freedom and liberty and the DeTocqueville model of what [French political philosopher Alexis] DeTocqueville saw in America.
And I thought neo-cons viewed the French as being too “elitist”, “liberal”, “appeasers”, “defeatists”, etc. Maybe the French are ok only when they are already dead and their words can be twisted to fit whatever agenda.
DeTocqueville wrote a few things that are less than flattering about the American political life, specially in the freethinking department. Maybe Pres Bush’s sycophants haven’t actually read DeTocqueville?
November 27th, 2006 at 1:35 pmI dont think Laura will be there for the opening, she will bail as soon as the terms over. Dubya’s too dumb and embarrassing even for her.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:03 pmThey should put it next to the Intelligent Design museum, and make a bundle on the saps who swallow these fairy tales — sort of a one-stop, full-service, conservative fantasy land. But then, “intelligent design” and “George Bush” are mutually exclusive terms; it would only confuse the customers.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:03 pmMuch of the money will be used to build a “legacy-polishing†institute…
The phrase “polishing a turd” springs to mind. Unfortunately.
Cheers.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:11 pmI dont think Laura will be there for the opening, she will bail as soon as the terms over. Dubya’s too dumb and embarrassing even for her.
Comment by june in florida
I think you’re giving Laura too much credit…
November 27th, 2006 at 2:45 pm#20=Excellent post!
I would call it ‘Institute For Torture And Insurgency’ brought to You by republican scum.
Aren’t there millions of people in the US that can’t afford to see a doctor for their illness?
November 27th, 2006 at 2:45 pmI know what they did in the West with horse thieves.
Ugh.
All the people who cannot bear the thought that they’ve supported a simply awful president will keep telling themselves, and those that will listen, that Bush was just great.
They’d rather lie to themselves for the rest of their lives than admit that both they and he screwed up.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:53 pmLet’s see how loyal they are going to be once the Senate investigations on pre-war intelligence gets started.
November 27th, 2006 at 2:56 pmAll of the good that G W Bush has done in the World can be expressed on a single blank page. Do I get my half billion now?
November 27th, 2006 at 3:15 pmWill there be a non-fiction wing too?
November 27th, 2006 at 4:00 pmIs it a coincidence that the lie-berry (good one Chimpeach!) is to be modeled after the HOOVER Institute?
November 27th, 2006 at 4:10 pm[...] Bush deserves the best, although it sure has the lefties in a tither…. [...]
November 27th, 2006 at 4:19 pmWill there be a Rove/Cheney Chicken wing?
November 27th, 2006 at 4:45 pmApart from the amount of money expected to be raised and wasted on this, I don’t think that the turd-polishing is going to change too many minds about what this idiot has done to the world. What I would be concerned about, though, is what history textbooks are going to say about him. Considering that the nation’s textbook content is determined largely by the state of Texas and is heavily influenced by right-wing Texans at that, it might take a fairly vigorous nationwide campaign just to get the facts about Dubya’s reign into history books and to keep the BS out.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:57 pm#73 – dumbstruck,
November 27th, 2006 at 5:17 pmThat will be built in Buffalo.
$500 million is rediculous, but so is the $165 million that Clinton spent for his library.
November 27th, 2006 at 5:20 pmRemember what this idiot said about history? The knucklehead said history won’t matter because we’ll all be dead. So why start work on a LIEberry (George’s spelling ) ? Look it up. He did say it!!!! Damn, what a stupid, stupid fool…
November 27th, 2006 at 5:44 pmClinton’s $165 million was spent on a legacy, W’s $500 million will be spent on an unmitigated disaster.
November 27th, 2006 at 6:01 pm#78, yep, a legacy of scandal, lies, impeachment, lies, more scandal….
November 27th, 2006 at 6:20 pm#79 – robert,
November 27th, 2006 at 6:46 pmYou just described the Bush 43 administration.
$500 million is rediculous, but so is the $165 million that Clinton spent for his library.
Comment by robert — November 27, 2006 @ 5:20 pm
What’s Clinton got to do with the Bush Presidential library? Why bring up his name at all? Do you realise you just highlighted how absolutely ridiculous $500M for a presidential library is? About three times as ridiculous as $165M, as a matter of fact.
You also seem to think Bush’s presidency is lie and scandal-free. I guess you missed Abramoff’s guilty plea, Libby’s conviction, Cunningham’s sentence, Foley’s homosexual shenanigans with minors, the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, the torture at AbuGhraib, the killings at Haditha, the rape of a 14yo girl and her assassination (along with her family), the death of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians in a war of choice, the fact that Iraq is quickly becoming a failed state, the ballooning deficit, etc., etc.
You seriously need to review your priorities.
November 27th, 2006 at 8:25 pmWill GW receive funds from the Bin Ladens?
November 27th, 2006 at 9:41 pmSomething about “think tank” and “library” used with George Bush is absolutely hilarious in it’s comic juxtaposition.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:10 pmFive hundred million? Not enough. Five hundred billion? Still not enough. No amount of money will buy enough lipstick to make this pig look good. Legacy? What are they smoking? When historians get ahold of any administration documents that aren’t redacted or simply classified for “national security” reasons, W’s legacy will make Nixon’s look good.
November 27th, 2006 at 11:55 pmJust a quick post..Bull shit bush’s library should be one of those old FEMA trailers rotting away unused and the book’s to put in it would include these three, My pet Goat to signify his inept beginnings, A soggy book from N.O. to mark 5 day wait to do anything for our dieing citizens and a copy of the karan or any book of choice from the Iraq people to portray the genocide this maniac has put on their people….If the neocons funding his library lie wanted to do something pay for an attorney to indict his ass and then send the rest of the money to the survivors over there and vetrans famalies here……Blessings
November 28th, 2006 at 12:04 am$500M should buy a bold architectural statement. Far too bold to be housed in one building. I think it would be fitting if Bush’s library were to be housed in thousands and thousands of buildings, say in Louisiana for example, and people could live in these buildings and call them ‘home’ as a memorial to all that Bush has done for the Katrina victims, and each home would have a Bush Memorial Library Wing complete with toilet and sink and can of Glade.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:01 am[...] You see, Bush is building a Presidential library- no big deal of course- all Presidents do this and their egos lead them along the path of trying to out-do all the Presidents that have come before them by setting half a billion dollars as the price tag. But Bush has taken it a step further during a time of war and at time when corporate corruption and crony capitalism have become the symbols of the modern GOP: Bush loyalists have already identified wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry as potential “mega†donors and are pressing for a formal site announcement – now expected early in the new year. [...]
November 28th, 2006 at 8:14 amGregor Samsa,
Nope, I knop that the Bush administration is full of scandals too. I think it is ridiculous the ammount of money these people spend to try to solidify their legacy is outragous. Yep, the cost of the Bush Library is about 3 times as ridiculous as the cost of the Clinton Library, but both are ridiculous.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:24 am[...] So, how will the Republican administration go about rewriting history? [...]
November 28th, 2006 at 11:40 amA library? The moron can’t read. Take any of the thousands of books written about this idiot and stock the library with them.
A monument to the most corrupt and incompetent President to ever occupy the White House.
November 28th, 2006 at 4:54 pm“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
- H.L. Mencken
A 500-million-dollar library built in honor of a “downright moron” non-reader war criminal … Mmmbwaahaaaahaaaa! In Bush’s case wouldn’t just a simple bookcase do? I mean a small simple bookcase. On second thought and better yet, a simple, small one-shelf bookcase. Made of balsam wood, it would be cheap to construct and still durable enough for its purpose (Bechtel, now that it’s out of Iraq and has blood–time on its hands, could build it). Granted, mahogany would look better (teakwood still better), but as the saying goes, “The wood should fit the legacy.” Hmm … I wonder if there’s such a thing as pressed balsam wood …
November 28th, 2006 at 5:23 pm#91 – George Garmin,
November 28th, 2006 at 9:20 pmYep there is such a thing as pressed balsam wood. Most people call it cardboard. The only problem is that the sap is extracted prior to processing. In this case a library is being built for a sap.
Sorry George, I meant to type Garnin.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:25 pm[...] The newly proposed Bush Library plans to court ‘wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry’ to re-write ‘polish’ history. I always heard the saying that “History is written by the winners.” Apparently it’s written by losers who have a lot of money, too. [...]
November 29th, 2006 at 10:46 amWHY HE NEED 1/2 BILLION DOLLARS BUSH FOR HIS LIBRARY ?
November 29th, 2006 at 12:26 pmHOW MANY BOOKS OF MY GOAT PET HE HAVE ?
$ 500,00 DOLLARES FOR BUSH LIBRARY ????
November 29th, 2006 at 12:40 pmHOW MANY BOOKS OF ( MY PET GOAT ) WE CAN READ.?
SUBGESTION, HE CAN SAY THIS,I WAS THE WORSE OF THE WORLD DICTATORS,, UNDER MY RULE, MORE THEN HALF A MILLIONS IRAQIES ARE DEATH, AND THOUSEND OF AMERICANS SOLDIERS DIE FOR MY OIL, AND W,M,D, WHO NEVER EXISTED .AND I DID GIVE FABULOUS TAX CUT TO MY RICH FRIENDS, AND MYSELF.
I GIVE A GIFT TO THE AMERICA, A GIFT,OF 12 TRILLION DOLLARS DEFICITS. AND I FEEL GOOD, DID MY GOOD DEED.
Nixxon and Raygoon and King George the Elder have theirs too.
November 30th, 2006 at 4:35 pmPalaces dedicated to corruption.
anyone see the irony here, bush and a library, in the same sentence.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:51 pmthe money could be better spend for the homeless iraq veterans or given to the families of dead american soldiers.
if bush wants a shrine built to honor himself, a latrine would be a more logical choice.
[...] * Bush’s presidential library (estimated cost a record $500 million) will be paid for by “wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry” (!) [...]
December 3rd, 2006 at 3:43 amif the idea is to “polish up” the Bush legacy, $500 million is not nearly enough….. they’ll need a MUCH bigger budget clean these stables!
December 3rd, 2006 at 5:32 pmSo they’ve already begun to choose the big (anonymous) donors. It’s a foregone conclusion that the bin Laden famuly as well as the House of Saud will be among them.
If Rupert Murdoch ponies at least $50 million (as well he ought, considering what Dumbya’s FCC and INS did for him), does that mean that the media facility will be named The Faux Center?
The very fact that Waco and Dallas, Baylor and SMU, are both willing, even anxious, to host this lurid display of smegma pretty much says all that need be said about modern Texas.
December 4th, 2006 at 11:36 pm[...] The New York Daily News reported last month that President Bush and “his truest believers” are launching “their final campaign — an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.” [...]
December 18th, 2006 at 12:25 pm[...] The New York Daily News reported last month that President Bush and “his truest believers†are launching “their final campaign — an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.†[...]
December 19th, 2006 at 5:22 pmElection Day rendered George W. Bush a lame-duck president, and he can begin thinking about his presidential library. Imagine what an honest rendition of that library might look like.
Such libraries typically begin with the early career — in this case The Foggy Years, the heroic service in the Air National Guard, and the falling upward economically. A gallery could commemorate all the Texas businessmen who helped young George turn business blunders into windfalls.
This would lead into an exhibit on Governor Bush, the Uniter not the Divider, his collaboration with Texas Democrats, and the unity theme in the 2000 presidential campaign. From there, you’d go directly into the Hammer Room, and observe Tom DeLay excluding Democrats from the legislative process in Congress.
The next salon would be the Rogues Gallery, featuring each of the several congressional scoundrels of the Bush era — DeLay being forced to step down as Republican House leader, the hapless Representative Bob Ney pleading guilty but refusing to give up his seat, Representative Randy Cunningham devising convoluted scams that led to prison time, as well as an elaborate interactive diagram on the multiple connections with corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff. A nearby exhibit would commemorate corporate felons close to Bush, beginning with Enron officers.
One of the most surprising exhibits would be the Gay Closet, depicting the several senior Republican congressional staffers, congressmen, and leaders of the national Republican Party who turned out to be closeted gays. The exhibit would be paired with examples of Republican anti-gay ballot initiatives. The Museum of the Iraq War would open with the Mission Accomplished Room, a wax diorama of President Bush costumed in his flight jacket, emerging from a fighter jet on the USS Lincoln flight deck. The Mission Accomplished banner used in the original May 2003 stunt would adorn the wall. On a facing wall would be discrete portraits of each of the thousands of soldiers killed in Iraq after the mission was declared accomplished.
The stout-hearted could take in a lifelike simulation of the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib. Viewers would exit via the blinking color-coded lights of the Hall of Fear, showing the innumerable efforts to keep the American electorate in a permanent state of anxiety. An educational exhibit would trace the falsification of intelligence linking Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda and to nuclear weapons, and the helpful role of credulous reporters.
The nearby Spin Gallery would feature journalists who temporarily thrived by serving as Bush’s enablers. Judith Miller and Bob Woodward would each get a room. In the nearby Chamber of Echoes, viewers could trace administration talking points from press handouts to Fox News commentaries, editorials in the Wall Street Journal, and talk-radio scripts.
The Hall of Faith would depict the gift of tax-supported services to mega-church empires, and include videos of speeches by Bush’s favorite televangelists, such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell calling the 9/11 attacks God’s punishment for America’s sinful ways. The parallel Hall of Science would display the handing over of science policy to deniers of global warming, religious opponents of stem-cell research and contraception, and sponsors of theological reinterpretations of Darwin.
Nearby would be rotating exhibits featuring Great Moments in Public Management. This month: “Heck of a Job, Brownie: FEMA and Hurricane Katrina.”
A cozy lobby would display how lobbyists for major industries took over government — energy industries running energy policy, drug companies running the FDA, and so on. Museum-goers needing refreshment could enjoy complimentary doughnuts offered by the HMO industry, to commemorate the doughnut hole of non-coverage in Bush’s Medicare drug bill crafted by the insurance companies.
A special exhibition, American Democracy in the Bush Years, would feature material on Ken Blackwell and Katherine Harris, with displays of flawed or manipulated voting machines, purged voter lists, excessive ID checks, rubber-stamp courts, and suspensions of civil liberties.
Visiting schoolchildren who did not live through the Bush era, jaded by special effects in horror movies, would anxiously ask parents and teachers if this all really happened. And at the back of the museum, tourists would be startled to notice a larger, ominously darkened building, dwarfing the sunny George W. Bush Presidential Library. This is, of course, the Dick Cheney Vice-Presidential Library.
Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior fellow at Demos. His column appears regularly in the Globe.
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:06 pmSouthern Methodist University is as deaf to opinion as the president.
It was the ultimate blow that their athletics could not meet standards of decency and were suspended.
Now they have an administration that is so starved for money and influence that it will sell it’s soul to a failed president for the most expensive library to be eternally linked with it’s name. Us Methodists are ashamed.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:56 pmI still don’t see why one needs a big library to house a coloring book! But then I only have an B.A., 1959 and and M.A. 1962 from SMU so what do I know…
February 16th, 2007 at 8:17 am