Can you spare a dime for the Bush Library?

  • News
  • Thread starter LowlyPion
  • Start date
In summary, the most interesting - and controversial - part of the plan is the George W. Bush Policy Institute, which will remain controlled by the president’s foundation and will open well before the planned museum opening in 2013.
  • #1
LowlyPion
Homework Helper
3,128
6
Poor George. Born with the silver spoon and yet still having to scrape together money for his library.
Battle brews over Bush library

...The most interesting – and controversial – part of the plan is the George W. Bush Policy Institute, which will remain controlled by the president’s foundation and will open well before the planned museum opening in 2013.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19996.html

Sorry George. You're not getting my money to create a monument of revisionist history with some ongoing effort to rehabilitate your sorry performance, to defend your horrific and failed policies of foreign adventure mixed with your toxic domestic cocktail of regulatory neglect that is ending in near collapse.

I'm wondering if this oasis of revisionism will open far enough in the future for people to have forgotten him enough by then? Or is the hope that the economy will have recovered under the Democrats enough that people will have enough again to consider giving to a library?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
With all this money the Dems are printing for us, shouldn't be a problem.
 
  • #3
There is another alternative, and it's cheaper

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25735046/

SAN FRANCISCO - A measure seeking to commemorate President Bush's years in office by slapping his name on a San Francisco sewage plant has qualified for the November ballot.

The measure certified Thursday would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.
 
  • #4
Looks like the Bush Foundation is getting some early revisionist help today from the blame shirkers. Cheney and Dana Perino are both laughably - on the floor laughably, my sides aching like jello in a hardware store paint can shake mixer laughably - at once blaming the Democrats for the bad economy and yet taking credit for the galvanic up-tick in the market this week.

These hypocrites are setting new thresholds for bald face revisionism.

But seriously, who is going to give money to fund the memorialization of this dilettante for anything more than a waste water treatment plant? Even Cheney is whining about Bush not pardoning Scooter Libbey for having to swing for his and Rove's machinations.
 
  • #5
LowlyPion said:
But seriously, who is going to give money to fund the memorialization of this dilettante
Even if for no other reason, I can see people doing it just to counterbalance (or to spite) those who like to spew hate. :tongue:
 
  • #6
Hurkyl said:
Even if for no other reason, I can see people doing it just to counterbalance (or to spite) those who like to spew hate. :tongue:

Why would people give to Bush to spite people like say for example the Westboro Baptist Church people, or Nazi Skinheads?

Bush hardly did anything to advance the cause of tolerance, when he relied so on intolerance from the Right to advance him to the White House to begin with?
 
  • #7
I'm sorry, maybe I was too subtle. Let me try that again...

Even if for no other reason, I can see people doing it just to counterbalance (or to spite) those who like to spew the kind of hate you're spewing here (and have been).
 
  • #8
Hurkyl said:
I'm sorry, maybe I was too subtle. Let me try that again...

Even if for no other reason, I can see people doing it just to counterbalance (or to spite) those who like to spew the kind of hate you're spewing here (and have been).

Oh. I see. So you meant that as a personal attack?

And to be clear aren't you the one that is a stickler for adhering to PF guidelines?
 
  • #9
LowlyPion said:
Oh. I see. So you meant that as a personal attack?
No. I meant that as an attack on your posts -- e.g. your habit of saturating them with insults directeded at Bush.
 
  • #10
Hurkyl said:
No. I meant that as an attack on your posts -- e.g. your habit of saturating them with insults directeded at Bush.

I have to second this observation. It's never been constructive in LPs arguments.
 
  • #11
Hurkyl said:
No. I meant that as an attack on your posts -- e.g. your habit of saturating them with insults directeded at Bush.

It's not like insulting Bush isn't fair dinkum - him being a public figure and all, and I holding him in low esteem for his apparent incompetent stewardship of the country these last 8 years.

Perhaps you would be being more constructive in your approach to discussion, if you offered a defense of Bush as opposed to just offering up criticism of my posts and opinions without substantial defense against what I'm saying? I hardly see myself as a relevant dimension of his shortcomings. Just a thought.

As to the Bush Library what makes you think he deserves much of a legacy in history besides say revilement for a poorly initiated war of American Adventurism, an improperly conducted war as far as damaging the basic principles of the Republic as far as human rights, or as far as his disaster recovery skills, or as far as his ruinous failures to regulate industries from banking to healthcare to the environment, or even to be prospective as far as investing in infrastructure development for stimulating the economy into a more efficient next generation?

I see his legacy as shameful. He's squandered our advantages of an efficient economy, of Government surpluses, and precipitously lurched the machina Republica toward ruin.

Are you saying then that you support his legacy? That his principles - whatever they may be - are somehow worth memorializing as anything other than case studies in what doesn't work? Or as people in California have already opined with naming a waste treatment plant after him?
 
  • #12
LowlyPion said:
It's not like insulting Bush isn't fair dinkum ...
On this forum, we have rules against personal insults, but fortunately for you, they apply only to other members of this forum. You are (mostly) free to throw random, content-less insults at Bush, but in so doing, you only really serve to highlight the irony of lowering yourself to the supposed level of the person you are trying to insult. Hurkyl was merely pointing out this irony/hypocrisy.
Perhaps you would be being more constructive in your approach to discussion, if you offered a defense of Bush as opposed to just offering up criticism of my posts...
Your posts contain no actual content, so there isn't really anything to discuss. In order for a discussion to be constructive, it has to be started constructive. Garbage in, garbage out.
 
  • #13
russ_watters said:
On this forum, we have rules against personal insults, but fortunately for you, they apply only to other members of this forum. You are (mostly) free to throw random, content-less insults at Bush, but in so doing, you only really serve to highlight the irony of lowering yourself to the supposed level of the person you are trying to insult. Hurkyl was merely pointing out this irony/hypocrisy.

When George Bush signs up here then you may have a limited point, though I would continue to assert that his being within the vortex of public discussion wouldn't afford him much of a fig leaf insofar as remarks about his public performance. In that regard I'd continue to say, not without some reason as outlined previously, that he clearly has not fulfilled his public office with any great distinction. That's not name calling. That's observation.

Now given that I'd think the purpose of a memorial library is in theory to bring credit upon the individual, I'm searching for what is credit worthy he has done, other than those noteworthy shortcomings of what he has delivered, that would make anyone want to contribute to his library.

I'm not contributing. Are you? If so, then good on you. Maybe then you can explain why more that a waste water plant is appropriate to mark his passing. Just because he is an ex-President, I don't think automatically compels the country to revere him. Heavens we had to act already with respect these last 8 years as he bumbled about as it was.

As to your theory on my being dragged down to Bush's level by observing that the deposed Emperor from Crawford and his minions have no clothes when it comes to their self-alleged contributions to and accomplishments for the Nation, or that I am somehow engaging in hypocrisy in making such observations, your logic simply escapes. But trust me when I say I'm not interested in any further elaboration on the subject. That's really just off topic.
 
  • #14
I'd still like to know if he can or should be prosecuted for war [or other] crimes. Maybe Leahy will shed some light on this.

I'm with you LP. A Bush memorial library is nothing short of an insult and disgrace to the nation. If one is built and I have a chance, I may throw my shoes at it.
 
  • #15
Ivan Seeking said:
I'm with you LP.
In what way? Are you with them in the sense that you're opposed to the library -- or are you supporting his spewing insults with every other breath?
 
  • #16
So why not build a monument to Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini or Franco? Seriously, anyone who would would oppose such a plan is clearly propagating hatred. :rolleyes:
 
  • #17
LowlyPion said:
Perhaps you would be being more constructive in your approach to discussion,
Okay.

If you really want to talk about this proposed Bush library, then it would be much better if you made only meaningful, on-topic comments. Each time you indulge in Bush-bashing, you divert the thread from the topic you wanted to discuss, and you obscure the meaningful content of your post. To wit, your original post is so full of Bush-bashing that it appears (to me) to be entirely content free -- you have completely defeated your own attempts to meaningfully discuss your topic of interest.

Conversely, if mud-slinging really is all you care about, then you would do well to go do it someplace more appropriate -- this P&WA forum strives to be above such childish behavior, and over time, such behavior will probably get you banned.
 
  • #18
Hurkyl said:
-- or are you supporting his spewing insults with every other breath?

What do you care about Bush now? Can't people rejoice that the likes of Bush and Cheney are retired to private life and can no longer harm the interests of the Republic through the direct misuse of power? What do you care if they are insulted?

While I am not keenly in favor of Leahy's ideas to root out the enemies of the Republic from the last administration, I'm also not with the program of pretending to honor someone with a library merely because he served out his term and wasn't impeached or something.

So why do you think he is deserving of anything like a library taken over at some public expense I might note?
 
  • #19
Ivan Seeking said:
I'd still like to know if he can or should be prosecuted for war [or other] crimes. Maybe Leahy will shed some light on this.

I'm with you LP. A Bush memorial library is nothing short of an insult and disgrace to the nation. If one is built and I have a chance, I may throw my shoes at it.

Don't worry guys...with the pre-911 approach to fighting terrorism the new administration is developing...Al-Qaeda will probably blow it up.
 
  • #20
LowlyPion said:
While I am not keenly in favor of Leahy's ideas to root out the enemies of the Republic from the last administration, I'm also not with the program of pretending to honor someone with a library merely because he served out his term and wasn't impeached or something.

Interesting! But he can only be appropriately discredited in history if the true scope of his abuses are known. For example, if we knew that he is indeed a war criminal as many suspect, we wouldn't be building any monuments or libraries that honor him.
 
  • #21
WhoWee said:
Don't worry guys...with the pre-911 approach to fighting terrorism the new administration is developing...Al-Qaeda will probably blow it up.

Yeah, that seems to be the current Cheney line of scare mongering he was spouting today on the Sunday show.

I'd have thought that Sir Alec Guinness had pretty captured old Shoot'em in the Face Cheney in Dr. Strangelove ("There will be no fighting in the War Room") if it wasn't for the fact he played the role 40 years ago.
 
  • #22
Ivan Seeking said:
Interesting! But he can only be appropriately discredited in history if the true scope of his abuses are known. For example, if we knew that he is indeed a war criminal as many suspect, we wouldn't be building any monuments or libraries that honor him.

My theory is that Obama is influenced by Lincoln's intent to heal the Nation. Unfortunately he was assassinated and Amnesty and the business of mending the nation was cut short. But I think Obama carries that same interest in looking forward and putting the past behind.

As to rewriting history ... let them try. History is far more resilient than the attempts of the Republicans to put a good face on things to date.
 
  • #23
I was never a fan of Bush or Cheney, but they did keep us from being hit again.

I don't like the Patriot act any more than you do...but I don't want to be afraid to go to work (on a plane) or send my kids on a field trip to D.C. either.
 
  • #24
LowlyPion said:
What do you care about Bush now? Can't people rejoice that the likes of Bush and Cheney are retired to private life and can no longer harm the interests of the Republic through the direct misuse of power? What do you care if they are insulted?
Go, rejoice, have fun! Just don't do so by slinging insults here; it's inappropriate, even if it was aimed at a hypothetical offspring of Cruella de Vil and Sauron. (Also, don't let your enjoyment cause you to form irrational opinions regarding politics)
 
  • #25
LowlyPion said:
My theory is that Obama is influenced by Lincoln's intent to heal the Nation. Unfortunately he was assassinated and Amnesty and the business of mending the nation was cut short. But I think Obama carries that same interest in looking forward and putting the past behind.

As to rewriting history ... let them try. History is far more resilient than the attempts of the Republicans to put a good face on things to date.

There are lots of revisions in the books.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127797

Lincoln's plan to buy the slaves and send them home seems to have been left out of the books as well.
 

1. What is the purpose of the Bush Library?

The Bush Library serves as a repository for historical documents and artifacts related to the presidency of George W. Bush. It also serves as a research center and museum to educate the public about his presidency and policies.

2. How much does the Bush Library cost?

The estimated cost of the Bush Library was $500 million, with most of the funding coming from private donations. However, the final cost may vary as it also includes an endowment for the library's ongoing operations.

3. Where is the Bush Library located?

The Bush Library is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. It is situated on a 23-acre site and is part of the larger George W. Bush Presidential Center.

4. What can visitors expect to see at the Bush Library?

The Bush Library features interactive exhibits, artifacts, and documents from the Bush presidency. Visitors can also view replicas of the Oval Office and the White House Rose Garden. Additionally, the library hosts temporary exhibitions and events related to the presidency.

5. Can I access the Bush Library's collection for research purposes?

Yes, the Bush Library is open to researchers and scholars who wish to access the collection for academic or personal research. However, an appointment is required to access the archives and a valid government-issued ID is necessary for entry.

Back
Top