W library in record book $500M center would be priciest for a Prez

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/475052p-399492c.html

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.

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.

<snip>

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.

What a waste - 1/2 billion for a f'ing failure and worst president in U.S. history. And as usual they will scrub and try to rewrite history with their usual shills.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Half a billion to house "My pet goat"?

Give me a break!

[Bucky]

6. No, a presidential library would be for official state papers...

...in this case, of course, they'd all be redacted down to entirely black sharpie smudges. Or they could save time and money and print it all on black paper. I'm just kidding. They don't give a shit about saving money.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. official state papers

1. You mean the ones that * won't declare classified and locked away for 50 years?

2. Will the documents available for inspection include the "signing statements" attached to congressional legislation?

3. Think tank and * is a contradiction.

[krispos42]

60. No, you have it all wrong

There will be an animatronic Bush seated behind a "Help" desk, and whenever you ask him for a paper, he says "That's classified" and pulls a lever, and you fall through a trap door in the floor into "Pirates of Guantanamo Bay". Indefinately.

[nicknameless]

10. And "Three Shakespeares". (n/t)

[freethought]

27. Well, you could also include all of his issues of "Mad Magazine". n/t

[zreosumgame]

33. It looks to me like a $500 billion paper shreading operation

[ima_sinnic]

2. the little s**thead loser can add it on to his grand palace in Iraq

what a joke! the illiterate a-hole has never read a book in his life and never written anything either. it's all about keeping up appearances with this phony piece of scheist and his "loyalists." think how many Rx's could be filled, how many children could be fed with that money.

[Skittles]

3. who the F*** would donate money for THAT shit???

I mean - a library - for BUSH - it is LAUGHABLE

[CreekDog]

4. That's a lot of money for a man that doesn't read

Maybe it's costly because it will contain all the books he should have read.

[Bucky]

7. I think you know exactly who's gonna donate that money

[susu369]

11. One source - Arab nations

"Bush loyalists have already identified wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry as potential "mega" donors..."

This is from The Onion, right???????

[cornermouse]

5. Typical George and to be expected.

He brings true meaning to the word "wastrel".

[pa28]

8. The G.W. Bush center for revisionist history. Gosh let's take the kids.

Half a billion dollars to house a megaphone and two hours worth of apologist spin for crushing debt, a disastrous war, crippling the bill of rights and an extreme political agenda.

I'd be interested in knowing what these "mega donors" are getting in return.

(I forgot to mention the known history of influence peddling, bribery and corruption.)

[symbolman]

59. Don't forget

that he's going to build a full size Mock Up of the World Trade Center INSIDE, and then crash planes into Every day at 4pm for the Kiddies, then they have to haul away the rubble and rebuilt it, so that costs real bucks..plus those Mexican Stunt guys falling from the top have to be replaced each day. :)

Polishing those gratuitously shiny pResidential cowboy boots will blind a worker each day, and then they have to hide that body or pay bus fare home, and of course they have to make sure there's plenty of Horse Repellant available since any reasonable Horse would stomp Bush into dirt, since horses don't go for Bullshit, and that can get expensive too..

[okoboji]

9. $500 million ?????

I didn't think book mobiles cost that much......

[saigon68]

13. How much for a book of matches?

[Kellyiswise]

14. I do hope all the wealty conservatives donate money. Love to see them waste

their billions on something that won't mean anything in history except a monument to the man who began the decline of the US as a great power.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

15. No problem, half a billion is a chump change payoff for the vast sum he transfered to the wealthest

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. George's half a billion dollar ego. And any greed pig who donates to this

does not need nor deserve any tax cuts!

[Olney Blue]

16. I wouldn't step foot in that library for a million bucks.

[Captain Hilts]

17. These things are huge tributes to the Cult of the Personality we pay tax dollars to maintain.

Contributors build them, but it's Joe and Mary Shit Taxpayer who have to pay the maintenance costs.

[Vinca]

18. The "Institute for Democracy???" Are these people nuts???

The "Institute for Madness" or "Institute for Chaos" or "Institute of Slaughtering Innocents," but "democracy?" I don't think so.

[tanyev]

19. Crap. I was so hoping they would build that abomination in Waco.

:banghead:

[underpants]

20. LOL - isn't everything going to be "classified"?

I can see someone now asking for some information on THAT IS CLASSIFIED YOU DON'T NEED TO SEE THAT!! :grr:

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

21. Why don't they just use this

and it's mobile too!


and here's his first customer

[liberal N proud]

22. Since his presidency has the largest price tag and the largest deficit

It only make sense that his library keep that theme going, spend like there is no tomorrow.

[TlalocW]

23. Well, Martha, here we are inside the Bush Library

Let's take a peek at the map and get our bearings. Well, looks like we're in the 9/11 room, and if we go straight ahead, we'll be in the 9/11 room, and if we go to the right, we'll be in the 9/11 room. Hey, here's something on the other side we'll need to visit - the 9/11 room, but tell ya what, let's first go to the 9/11 room over here.

TlalocW

[flordehinojos]

24. that library will be a cult to war. it will probably house rocket launchers.

drones. anti-ballistic missiles, anti-whatever-tanks...the artifacts for waterboarding and other torture methods...it will be a dark day for the united states when it is inaugurated just like the bushes' presidencies has been a dark day for the united states and the rest of the world.

ruthie camden be aware!x( }( :hippie:

[brook]

25. Think Tank?

Surely he jests.

Oughta be built in Paraguay.

[Moochy]

48. Think Tank

This is what he means by "Think Tank"

The most expensive presidential library ever.. something like the manhattan project.. and at the end of it all Bush may be able to read!

[brook]

49. Good one, Moochy! n/t

[symbolman]

58. Should put a

Question Mark Over the top of the Tank, and then I think you'd have it :)

[KamaAina]

63. I was thinking more like...

[Eurobabe]

26. Brought to USA by the scum who raped America for past 6 yrs.

n/t

[Demonaut]

28. That's a lot of comic books...

[Cass]

29. Wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and corporate America to foot the bill.

And his think-tank will give money to scholars to write books and papers favorable to Bush's policies. So they come right out and admit they're going to pay off people to write good stuff about Bush.

Oh man, even the Onion couldn't make this sh* up. IMO, this is a very embarassing article for Bush.

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. Is Bush really worth that much brown-nosing now?

The only reason anyone would give money to this would be to secure an advantage by polishing Bush's ego. With Congress in Democratic hands, there's not much largesse he can give out now - and the Republicans had already started to deny ever knowing him before the 2006 elections. These ultra-rich types will be looking out for the next sock-puppet to fund, not the last one. I think most of these donors will spin Bush along until it's too late, and then drop him.

Question: who donated to the Nixon library?

[Javaman]

31. Is it a library or a bunker?

:shrug:

[nebula]

32. You can't make this stuff it. lol.

Jon Stewart and The Daily Show will have a field day with this one.

[Doctor_J]

34. Just stock the books he's read

I'd be happy to provide them with a phone booth

[Pastiche423]

35. Did Clinton talk about his library

before he left office?

[tabasco]

36. They could put it in a solid gold building and it won't hide the

pile of crap that was the worst Presidency ever.

[Crunchy Frog]

37. Sort of the equivalent of Brezhnev awarding himself all those medals.

Cult of personality shit.

I would contribute money to a counter-library.

[eppur_se_muova]

61. A COUNTER-Bu**sh** library -- that sounds like a very good idea!

It should not be built with mega-donations, but with funds donated a penny at a time, by all the people who knew enough to vote against Bu**sh**.

[trogdor]

39. For perspective...

SBC Park, formerly Pacific Bell Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, cost $319 million to build in 2000.

Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, cost $360 million to build.

The Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds, cost $290 million in 2003.

Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, cost $453 million, probably because they didn't sell the naming rights like the Reds did. Still, it's less than $500 million.

The FIFA World Cup Stadium in Munich cost 280 million euros to build for the 2006 World Cup.

You could probably build a new 100,000 seat stadium for the Dallas Cowboys, put a dome over both it and the surrounding parking lot, and cover the seats in gold leaf, and serve unlimited free beer during the entire first NFL season it's open, for less than Bush's new bullshit factory.

[nebula]

40. It must be a library designed for the mentally retarded

[bronxiteforever]

41. Best quote "give them money to write papers favorable to Shrubs' policies"

Trying to manipulate History, the way he manipulated Iraq Intelligence.

[Golden Raisin]

42. Silly me. I would have thought

it was already endowed with "mega" contributions from Ken Lay, Jack Abramoff, Halliburton and all the other swell Bush supporters

[Lisa]

43. a think tank for someone who doesn't think? Wow.

As Lily Tomlin observed -- "No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up!"

[frylock]

44. i can't wait to see it razed to the ground

[Lisa]

45. just imagine what a REAL library could do with that kind of dough

Quite sickening, isn't it. A real waste ... say, maybe this is the actual function of the structure ... performance art, that summarizes what the Bush years were all about!

[truthisfreedom]

46. Naturally, he has to raise the money using foreign sources... those he sold out

our country to.

[0rganism]

47. "legacy-polishing centerpiece"? more like "turd-polishing revisionism"

I guess we know where Karl Rove will spend the rest of his career, anyway.

[Dudley_DUright]

50. "What is a turd?", Alex

Jeopardy: What you get after spending half a billion dollars polishing a turd.

[calimary]

56. The term "polishing the helmet" comes to mind.

That's one from my teenage son talking about rude classmates and the too-much time they spend in the boy's bathroom...

:evilgrin:

[Booster]

51. This is a joke, right?

[RamboLiberal]

52. Arab Nations - Now why did Hannity and Gingrich bloviate

about Clinton taking foreign donations?

http://www.newshounds.us/2005/10/07/news_flash_for_sean_hannity_and_newt_gingrich_clintons_been_out_of_office_for_almost_five_years_time_to_get_over_it.php

With the Bush Administration up to its eyeballs in political hot water, Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich thought the most noteworthy political news of the day yesterday was Louis Freeh's (former FBI director) new book alleging that President Bill Clinton sought foreign contributions for his Arkansas library. Hannity and Gingrich were almost giddy in their condemnations. But Alan Colmes argued vehemently that whatever Clinton did to seek contributions for his library pales in comparison to the breaches of security going on now in the Bush White House. Gingrich was obviously caught off guard and his smugness quickly disappeared. At the end of the discussion, Gingrich had to agree with Colmes that what's going on now is serious.

With self-righteous disapproval, Gingrich told Hannity that what Clinton did "has to be a criminal offense of the first order. How can you have an American president asking for money from foreign leaders? ...I think this is one of the most disturbing revelations we've ever had about an American president because it would indicate a total absence of judgement that really, I think, puts the nation in substantial danger."

With barely hidden glee, Hannity read a passage from Freeh's book saying that Clinton's closet "was full of skeletons just waiting to burst out." Then, adding a little more indignation, "We now see on a daily basis Bill Clinton undermining George W. Bush any way he can. Do we need to have a full and complete investigation into whether or not this obsession with his scandals and his peccadillos here literally put us in a more vulnerable position as it led up to 9/11?"

Gingrich said, "Let me go back and repeat what I said a minute ago because this is so profound." He repeated that asking foreign leaders for money is "a criminal offense of the first order and threatens the very nature of the American system." He continued, "I never have understood why the 9/11 Commission refused to look at the stunning, unbelievable failures of the Clinton years... Why was the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen not pursued better?"

[zann725]

53. Clearly the library (& think tank) will rewrite the Shrub Presidency...

to attempt to protect him from War Crime proceedings,and multiple Criminal charges, and volations of Constitution.

Shrub is not as dumb as he sounds. He's planning his personal "defense" against future charges...once he leaves office.

[Lisa]

54. Bush should have to pay for it himself. He makes $400k a year.

If he wants a "lie-berry" that much, he should save up. (Should be pretty easy ... they don't make him pay rent at the WH, and his food and transportation are covered.)

[robbob]

55. So when can we expect the outrage

from the "liberal" media over this obscene waste of money? Wasn't Clinton dragged over the coals for his presidential library?

[symbolman]

57. I happen to know that this is MAD MONEY

for a bunch of those Saudis. He'll get it, they spend that much on REAL ESTATE in the US, just for FUN. They're fucking BUSH FAMILY at this point.

You'd be surprised at what they own, or are thinking of buying, got a realtor pal in Hawaii and I don't get to talk about it, but I know some stuff.

That's why they are saying MEGA Donors, as in Everyone else will FLEE :)

And of all else fails, Bush will just tap into a few offshore accounts filled to the brim with Iraq 'war' bucks he's drained off over there, and channel it THROUGH people, so he doesn't look like the abject FAILURE as a "leader" or HUMAN BEING that he IS.

Of course with the Theme Park and the "Inside Bush's Head" Echo Chamber Theater I guess it would cost a lot to build - a Perfect Vacuum is very expensive, but they can assist NASA by Training Astronauts in there too :)

Actually, I kind of wonder how much someone could raise for an ANTI BUSH Library? Seriously.

[demo dutch]

62. That'll be one f-ing library I'll NEVER visit!

[Anakin Skywalker]

64. As Long As This Isn't Done w/ Tax Dollars, These Pigs Can Go Bonkers w/ Their Filthy Money.