quote: WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but 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.
Eager to begin refurbishing his tattered legacy, the President hopes to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush lived in Dallas until he was elected governor of Texas in 1995.
Bush sources with direct knowledge of library plans told the Daily News that SMU and Bush fund-raisers hope to get half of the half billion from what they call "megadonations" of $10 million to $20 million a pop.
What would go in the library since Bush doesn't even like to read?
-------------------- "The women who embraced in the wagon were Adam and Eve crossing a dark cathedral stage—no, Eve and Eve, loving one another as they would not be able to once they ate of the fruit and knew themselves as they truly were." - Lynn Cheney, Sisters. Posts: 289 | From: California | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I heard the collections consists of two coloring books and one of them is filled in already.
eta sorta spanked by Doug!! spanked with crayons!!
I like the red ones...
-------------------- "Wolves, dragons and vampires, man. Draw the nut-bars like big ol' nut-bar magnets." ~evilrabbit
(snurched because one of my nutbar family members is all about wolves and another one is all about dragons...)(with apologies to surfcitydogdad) Posts: 2397 | From: Texarkana, TX | Registered: Mar 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote: 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.
Wow, for a "Bush insider," he sure stated the purpose of the proposed institute in the most unflattering way possible. Or perhaps the word I'm looking for is "shameless."
All think tanks have agendas, of course, but most of them at least claim allegiance to something broader than one person's or administration's policies.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I hear there are a few fine pop-up books as well...
-------------------- "I bet a funny thing about driving a car off a cliff is, while you're in midair, you still hit those brakes. Hey, better try the emergency brake." -Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey Posts: 245 | From: Gladstone, MO | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Where the Wild Things Are is evidently Iraq.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can't imagine there will be any actual papers. He doesn't want his legacy to include any correspondance, so he doesn't use email... And he'll be classifying everything that he's ever been involved in. Maybe it'll be like the Clinton presidential DVD library? http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30489Posts: 121 | From: Charlottesville, VA | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
What disgusts me is that they will probably raise the half billion for this spin factory. Aparently assuring his "legacy" is important enough for this. You know what else that amount of money could buy? 450,000 full suits of military grade body armor. More than enough for ever seviceman and woman in Iraq. So a Bush Library is worth the effort...but not the troops.
-------------------- "I will tell you in another life, when we are both cats." Posts: 308 | From: Cleveland | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sandman: What disgusts me is that they will probably raise the half billion for this spin factory. Aparently assuring his "legacy" is important enough for this. You know what else that amount of money could buy? 450,000 full suits of military grade body armor. More than enough for ever seviceman and woman in Iraq. So a Bush Library is worth the effort...but not the troops.
All modern presidential libraries are spin factories and a waste of money.
posted
I think the new Bush Library should include a garden full of those mirrored "gazing balls" so that folks can try to duplicate his vapid gaze.
Posts: 193 | From: Seymour, Indiana | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sandman: What disgusts me is that they will probably raise the half billion for this spin factory. Aparently assuring his "legacy" is important enough for this. You know what else that amount of money could buy? 450,000 full suits of military grade body armor. More than enough for ever seviceman and woman in Iraq. So a Bush Library is worth the effort...but not the troops.
All modern presidential libraries are spin factories and a waste of money.
Nobody said they weren't. But the OP article does make it clear that this particular "spin factory" is set to be considerably more expensive, and to include more "bells and whistles" (the phrase used in the OP) than others.
It should also be pointed out that the building will be built with private donations. So in this case, if anybody's putting the Bush legacy above the safety of the troops, it's the donors to this library, not Bush himself. Any of these people could easily donate funds for body armor. Other people have done it. But they'd rather be able to point to a prestigious building that they helped fund, and that will link them to Bush's name. That's called vanity, and it's not the exclusive province of any political party or affiliation.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Its pravitely funded and Bush has every right to those funds to build the library. I do think there are better way to spen that amount of money than to build a Presidental Library for any president right now. Now if tax dollars were used to fund this, then I would have something more to say.
Posts: 597 | From: Bellingham, WA | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sandman: What disgusts me is that they will probably raise the half billion for this spin factory. Aparently assuring his "legacy" is important enough for this. You know what else that amount of money could buy? 450,000 full suits of military grade body armor. More than enough for ever seviceman and woman in Iraq. So a Bush Library is worth the effort...but not the troops.
Half a billion dollars not provided to right-wing political candidates instead?
Let them waste their money on a temple to his massive ego. These aren't exactly the sort of people who support the troops anyway (other than considering them OFUs for their various projects)
-------------------- The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale. Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - ) Posts: 244 | From: Ventura, CA | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Sara at home
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
"...and a think tank.."
A washing machine? It spins. That's as close as Bush will ever come to a think tank.
-------------------- Assume that all my posts will be edited at least once. Dyslexic -- can't spell, can't type, can't proofread. Posts: 8317 | From: Reading, PA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for the Wikipedia link on The Very Hungry Caterpillar. That gave me a great laugh
quote:George W. Bush listed the book among his favorite books from when he was growing up in a 1999 survey conducted by Pizza Hut, which caused some controversy among media commentators since Bush was twenty-three when the book was first published.
-------------------- "For me, religion is like a rhinoceros: I don't have one, and I'd really prefer not to be trampled by yours. But it is impressive, and even beautiful, and, to be honest, the world would be slightly worse off if there weren't any." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 3239 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? Posts: 735 | From: Manchester, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sara at home: "...and a think tank.."
A washing machine? It spins. That's as close as Bush will ever come to a think tank.
Now, you don't really think he's ever washed his own clothes, do you?
Anybody else remember when the right wing s**t machine swung into action to try to prevent Clinton's presidential library from being built in the first place? Ah, the irony.
-------------------- Another lifetime I'd have fallen in love with you Swept away by my feelings, ashamed and confused But just now it's enough to be walking with you Let the mystery play as it will! -Lui Collins Posts: 2669 | From: Jouy en Josas, France | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The New York Daily News has an exclusive story based on an unnamed source with an ambiguous official standing (a "Bush source") stating that they have already identified potential "wealthy heiresses" and "Arab nations" that could act as major contributors.
Not saying that I don't believe it's possible, but I wouldn't mind seeing some outside confirmation...
Posts: 345 | From: Washington, DC | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by MapleLeaf: Thanks for the Wikipedia link on The Very Hungry Caterpillar. That gave me a great laugh
quote:George W. Bush listed the book among his favorite books from when he was growing up in a 1999 survey conducted by Pizza Hut, which caused some controversy among media commentators since Bush was twenty-three when the book was first published.
That's why I chose that title. I just checked the wiki to ensure I remembered the right children's book.
I also thought the "synopsis" was a hoot.
Nick
-------------------- Don't forget to register for the New ULMB.
Ex-presidents build libraries, I accept this. I can even wrap my mind around himself wanting to have the coolest ex-pres library ever.
What is upsetting about this is that the donors don't have to be publicly listed. Anyone could donate any amount. Bush will know who donates heaps of cash but we won't. It will be difficult to tell if there is any quid pro quo. I suppose it was the same the last time around too. Still, that's a lot more money than in previous administrations.
Posts: 1168 | From: Missouri | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
Half a billion dollars seems like a lot for a bunch of Sweet Pickles and Highlights books.
Posts: 835 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)
