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

[BurtWorm]

<Hat tip to Huffington Post>

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

Daily News Exclusive

BY THOMAS M. DeFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

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.

...

"It's a stretch," said another source briefed on the plans. "It's so much bigger than anything that's been tried before. But the more you have, the more influence <on history> you can exert."

The half-billion target is double what Bush raised for his 2004 reelection and dwarfs the funding of other presidential libraries. But Bush partisans are determined to have a massive pile of endowment cash to spread the gospel of a presidency that for now gets poor marks from many scholars and a majority of Americans.

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.

...

[flyingfysh]

1. that's an awful lot of money to hold coloring books

[MaineYooper]

20. most of the money will go to build the bubble

After all, it will take one hell of a reality-exclusion bubble to keep that place from imploding...

[KoKo]

28. lol's....I was about to post same thing...and what about wiped hard drives

for all the e-mails that were scrubbed that contain their criminal activities.

There's not much from this administration that hasn't been wiped, shredded or deepsixed somewhere that will never see the light of day. :grr:

[LynneSin]

2. Half a billion for the three books he's colored?

As long as my taxdollars aren't spent for it

[Generic Other]

41. Here he is coloring!!

:rofl:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1891053949.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_OU01_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Kerrytravelers]

3. A library and think tank? The last two things this idiot brings to mind.

:rofl:

The king is building a castle for himself, eh? :eyes:


Should coloring books and tables with play-dough really get such a pricey building?

[wakeme2008]

4. I wonder if his MEGA Donors come through with the green backs.

I am betting they will not.

[A Simple Game]

21. That's why he is starting now.

If he waits much longer he will have no power to bargain with.

The type of people he courts don't do something for nothing.

[madokie]

5. he wishes, his library will be a side show in a circus somewhere obscure

[getting old in mke]

6. Hmmm....

That would be, what? About $125 million per book?

[newyawker99]

32. Hi getting old in mke!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Vorta]

7. Oxymoran

[MidwestTransplant]

8. Big Time! Bush and Think Tank :)

[Catchawave]

9. I just saw this on Craig Crawford's blog:

Bush To Raise $500 Million For Library
"Megadonations" To Fund Costliest Presidential Library Ever
President Bush and his followers intend to raise a half-billion dollars to build his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the New York Daily News reports. Fund-raisers are shopping for "megadonations" of $10 million to $20 million a pop, targeting "wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry." The rest will come from donors willing to pony up $25,000 to $5 million.


Query: Should presidents be allowed to raise such unregulated sums while still in office? The potential for bribery is obvious

http://www.crawfordslist.com/2006/11/bush_to_raise_500_million_for_1.html

[aquart]

19. No. They should NOT. Good point.

[last1standing]

10. It's only fitting.

His presidency has been the priciest for America - and the world for that matter.

[htuttle]

11. Considering that he's classified nearly all of his administration's papers

...and wrote an EO keeping them classified as long as he wants them to be, what precisely will be in this 'presidential library'? Will it be full of those silly inspirational banners? (ie., 'STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMY', etc...).

[A Simple Game]

23. "what precisely will be in this 'presidential library'?"

A very large vault which no one can open?

[blogslut]

12. Presidential coins for everyone!

I make jokes but that's because I would cry otherwise.

[Crankie Avalon]

13. He'll have to go to his friends in the bin Laden family and various oil sheiks for most of it...

...it'll be a real "all-American" sort of institution.

[marmar]

14. I can't wait to visit the "My Pet Goat" reading room....

:dunce:

[Sagan]

15. They should build it in the Green Zone

That would be the only truly fitting legacy for this "president".

[jaxx]

24. Just what I was thinking.

Why spend all that money on another building when there are buildings galore in Baghdad. It's bush's legacy........white elephants.

[leftofthedial]

16. I knew comic books had gone up in price

but that's ridiculous

[neilepi]

17. It's not books for the President......

....that are costing all the money, its:

"hire conservative scholars and "give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President's policies"

Scholars who fit that bill will NOT come cheap, not to mention the constant rewriting of stories.

The new, unique, 2007 Anti-Bush Grafitti Calendar

[JHB]

25. Scholars who fit that bill are not Scholars

They are just paid hacks, despite whatever diplomas they may bring with them.

Just a little reminder from the reality-oriented community...

[Flying Dream Blues]

18. Institute for Democracy?

These people have NO shame. Everything they have done has made a mockery of democracy. But at least the name fits with the "opposites" theme they've used all along; ie, "No Child Left Behind","Patriot Act", "Operation Iraqi Freedom", etc.

[Aristus]

22. *Caption*

"C'n any o' you-here kids read this ta me? Whatzit say?"

[Blue_In_AK]

26. Oh, the irony. n/t

[Iris]

27. wonder if it'll have any books in it?

[troubleinwinter]

29. Here is the architectural rendering representing the opening

[Catchawave]

30. LOL!!!!!

:toast:

[Generic Other]

43. Is Rummy the Viking Giant?

I love it. A costly sideshow tent! Perfect.

[fooj]

44. I see your creative juices are flowing again...

:applause:

[Swede]

31. And welcome to the "My Pet Goat" wing.

nt

[WritersBlock]

33. Next time I hear that Americans can't do irony, I'll mention this. n/t

[DemonFighterLives]

34. The Official Ministry of Truth

and Historical Revisionism. Nothing will be believable from this administration and eventually the freepers who attend this monument to ignorance will maybe get a clue. But I doubt it.

dubby is a laughingstock.
:dem:

[ThatsMyBarack]

35. Will this place have any books about pretzels?

And with lots of pictures in them?

Speaking of pictures, it looks like Georgie colored in the book that he's holding! :spank:

[Ino]

36. the Bushit Memorial Library

featuring...

the Many Faces of GWB -- a collection of photos,some humorous, some malevolent, the rugby punch to the face, the finger, juxtapositions like Katrina/guitar, picking his nose, etc

Famous Quotes -- hours of hilarity, computer searches for nonsensical quotes on any subject you choose, while big-screen monitor plays choice bits of video

Presidential Books - My Pet Goat, 3 random Shakespeares, a "Cay-muss", accompanied by placards bearing quotes of George bragging about being a C student & the fact that "I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are ... probably read the news themselves."

Of course, documents & exhibits memorializing all those who gave their lives for the Bush regime in Iraq, in NO, in cleaning up after 9/11 if not 9/11 itself.

Flowcharts - showing the connections of Bush family to Nazi regime, Cheney/Halliburton, Rumsfeld/Tamiflu, Neil&Babs' killing on No Child Left Behind, etc

...the possibilities are endless

The gift shop alone would be worth a visit.

I would contribute to something like that! I dare say it would be more visited than the propaganda at HIS library. And it's important to keep the REAL legacy in mind.

[warrens]

37. WTF are they going to put in there?

Pictures of him cutting brush? This is pretty hilarious. Hopefully, the money will cut into donations to other right-wing causes. A dusty, cobweb-filled library sounds a lot less dangerous than other things that money could be spent on.

[Beelzebud]

38. That's a shitload of copies of The Pet Goat

[ironflange]

42. It had damned well better be. . .

. . .a signed first-edition copy.

[EstimatedProphet]

39. How many copies of My Pet Goat does the country need anyway?

[EstimatedProphet]

40. Or is he maybe going to include a bunch of Shakespeares too?

Joe Shakespeare, Lucille Shakespeare, Billy Bob Shakespeare...

[neilepi]

45. Visitor to librarian: -

"Where can I find weapons of mass destruction?"

Librarian - "Oh, they're over in fiction"

MQGifts - A unique selection with choices from under $10 to over $15,000