Battle brews over Bush library

[sonias]

Yahoo News 3/14/09
Battle brews over Bush library
Former President George W. Bush is preparing for one final struggle against the odds: raising $300 million for a presidential library, museum and policy institute at a time when dollars are tight and skepticism about his presidency runs high.
(snip)

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.

SMU’s president says the institute will be more “vibrant ... than simply being a museum frozen in time.”

The president’s advisers are still chewing over what topics to emphasize. Iraq is unlikely to be one of them. Advisers say they have made a specific decision to leave that verdict to history and not try to defend it at a time when Iraq could still wind up as either a democracy or a disaster.

One of the original ideas was to emphasize the president’s so-called “freedom agenda” of democracy for the Middle East, and there was even talk of calling it The Freedom Institute.

Bush' "freedom agenda" memorialized for all the world to see. What a concept. Something tells me this is going to be a big disaster. But you also get a sense that Bush' still doesn't accept the error of his ways. I'm sure he will be quite proud of it. I wonder if there will be a requirement to take your shoes off before you enter?

Sonia

[Vogon_Glory]

1. I Still Approve of The dubya Institute Going to SMU

I still approve of the dubya Institute going to SMU. I admit that's partially because I am an SMU grad, but it's also because I believe that the dubya Institute is just about at Ground Zero for the Dallas County right-wing mindset that took the US in such a disastrous direction even before January 20th, 2001.

Part of my reasoning is frankly cynical. As the years go by and more and more dubya records are made available to scholars, academicians will flock to SMU to study the history of what is clearly one of the worst presidential administrations in US history.

And they will come, for the same reasons that people flock to airline crashes, car wrecks, and sentimentalize the Titanic: people are more interested in disasters than they are in the (oh so boringly) successful.

:tinfoilhat:


:dem:

[DuckBurp]

2. I'm an SMU grad, too.

Don't you think having the dubya institute on campus will do immeasurable harm to the reputation of the school? We don't have to surrender SMU to the likes of Carl Rove.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. They should have put it down in College Station.

SMU had a contingent of professors that protested it. And Dallas is a helluva lot bluer than A & M Land.

I'm glad I left just in time. If I ran into that fucker out anywhere I'd have been arrested.

[kjackson227]

4. I would be embarrassed...

to have it located on my university campus, and yes, I do think it will hurt these Universities (whichever one is unlucky enough to get it).

[Hangingon]

5. SMU is fortunate.

Cambridge didn't want the Kennedy Library because it would impact traffic. Duke turned down Nixon largely due to faculty pressure. They lost an institution that contained the records on ending the Vietnam War and opening relations with China. Stanford turned down Reagan because the factulty didn't want another "conservative" think tank - they already had the Hoover Institute of War and Peace. Today the Reagan Library is a major research institute and tourist attraction down in Simi Valley. W's library will be a research asset for SMU. Presidential Libraries have a good history of opening records. Researchers use them. All major issues come together in the White House.

[DuckBurp]

7. The problem isn't the library so much as it is the policy institute ...

... that goes along with the library. Although located on SMU property, which is owned by the United Methodist Church, the policy institute is to be run independent of control by the church or the school. Does anyone think it will be anything more than a propaganda machine, intent on revising history in an attempt to make Bush look good? SMU President Turner says he tried to get a better deal, one that gave SMU some control, but was told it was a package deal. The esteemed Dr. Turner is a "Pioneer" supporter of Bush election campaigns and can hardly be considered an objective party. This arrangement is different from any other library, including Stanford/Hoover, and is a bad deal for Methodists, SMU alumni, and the people of Dallas.

[sonias]

8. Absolutely true DuckBurp

It's the whole revisionist concept of history. And they know if they repeat lies often enough people start to believe them. They pulled off 8 years of the bait and switch shell game during his administration.

It is bad to have more of that propaganda machine still spinning in Texas, just when this state is about to wake up.

Plus I'd like to know who the deep pocket funders of this project are. You know it would read like a whose who of the military industrial complex.

Sonia

[Hangingon]

9. The Hoover Institute has had some of the same complaints.

The work coming from them has been very good. If the Bush Institute tries propaganda, it will show quickly and the Institute will suffer accordingly. I am inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt. I am not so sure this arrangement is very different from some of the other university/institute arrangements I have seen. Emory, for instance, does not control the Carter Center. As to how the Bush PL/Institute is bad for Methodists, I have no idea. SMU and the people of Dallas get a significant research institute. There has been much interest in the last few years about the sources of financing. Since Libraries and the private institutes/associations/foundations are built from private funds, so they have a right to privacy.

[Baby Snooks]

15. Reagan supposedly was his hero....

So build the damn museum and open the institute in Simi Valley. As for being a research asset, do you believe all the records will be made available? They are still "archiving" Reagan's. As in "revising" them.

If it were to have been part of a university, it should have been at A&M next to his father's. Both of them warmongers. Both of them share the same legacy. And it is not a legacy most universities would want to share in. It's a shame SMU chose to.

[Baby Snooks]

13. But there's the money...

What's interesting is the money is what "persuaded" the university to allow it and the money doesn't seem to be there any more.

Maybe everyone's royalty checks ain't what they used to be?

[sonias]

6. Judge delays ruling on whether Bush will testify in presidential library lawsuit

DMN 3/24/09
Judge delays ruling on whether Bush will testify in presidential library lawsuit
By LORI STAHL / The Dallas Morning News

A judge expected to rule today on whether former President George Bush would be forced to testify in a lawsuit over the land slated for his presidential library delayed his decision, urging the parties to instead settle the matter on their own.

(snip)
The lawsuit pivots on a long-standing battle between SMU and former condominium owners who say the university fraudulently obtained their property.

(snip)
All sides agree that Bush had meetings with SMU president Gerald Turner, trustee Ray Hunt and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, where the future presidential library was discussed. All but Bush has submitted to hours of questioning from the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

More bush fraud shenanigans. If bush and Harriet Miers were in on it, it probably stinks either way.

Sonia

[yellowdogintexas]

10. The Jurisdictional Court of the United Methodist Church will hear

a petition in May regarding the Policy Institute...the SouthWestern Jurisdiction owns the land and this court can reject the Institute.

[Baby Snooks]

14. They didn't reject the museum...

It will be difficult to reject one without the other. The two are tied together.

[Hangingon]

16. How are they tied?

Foundations/Associations/Institutes of libraries generally provide financial support to museums of Presidential Libraries, but the museum is the public education arm of the PL and is a Federal entity run by the National Archives. The Institute is a private organization. The institute is usually in separate space or a separate building.

[Baby Snooks]

17. By agreement...

Unless I am mistaken it's part of the deal with SMU. A "two-fer."

[Hangingon]

18. I doubt SMU will reject the package.

As I recall they have the John Tower Center for Political Studies. The Bush Library has the potential to become a serious research facility. Yes, even if you do not like Bush, a lot of significant things happened during his administration. The Institute will be able to raise significant funds to supplement federal funds. At least that is the experience at most other Presidential Libraries.

[sonias]

11. Good Night Bush Librarium

From TygrBright's Beyond Wicked Funny thread in GD

www.goodnightbush.com/librarium

Great fun! :bounce:

Sonia

[bamacrat]

12. I thought this was going to say Bush wanted a rock climbing wall,

a snow cone machine, a weight room and a pool. ha. But it all sounds like a big waste o money.