NYT: His Legacy and His Library Occupy Bush's Thoughts

[DeepModem Mom]

White House Letter
His Legacy and His Library Occupy Bush's Thoughts
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: May 8, 2006

WASHINGTON — President Bush had dinner last month on the Stanford University campus at the home of George P. Shultz, who was President Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, and the topic of conversation was not, as might be expected, the war in Iraq. Instead, guests said, Mr. Bush spent the evening focused on how he could create a public policy center with his presidential library after he leaves office in 2009.

The dozen or so guests at the dinner included directors and fellows of the Hoover Institution, the Stanford-affiliated policy center with close ties to the Bush White House. Mr. Bush spent most of his time, guests said, grilling the center's director, John Raisian, about the pros and cons of having an organization like Hoover within the confines of an institution like Stanford....

***

At this point, Southern Methodist University in Dallas is considered the favorite to get Mr. Bush's presidential library and policy center, but the University of Dallas and Baylor University in Waco, Tex., near the president's ranch, are also in the running. All three universities have submitted formal proposals to the Bush library selection committee, led by Donald L. Evans, the former commerce secretary and Mr. Bush's longtime friend....

***

So far Mr. Bush has said little publicly about his plans, although he told Bob Schieffer of CBS News in an interview in January that he wanted to create a policy center focused on the spread of democracy and Alexis de Tocqueville's vision of America as a nation made better by its "associations," or community groups.

"I would like to leave behind a legacy or a think tank, a place for people to talk about freedom and liberty, and the de Tocqueville model, what de Tocqueville saw in America," Mr. Bush told Mr. Schieffer. "I would like for there to be a place where young scholars come and write and think and articulate and opine and teach."...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/washington/08letter.html?ex=1147406400&en=1b88132bc5084a95&ei=5087%0A

[Jackpine Radical]

1. ...a place where visiting scholars can select a few heavy tomes,

check out a box of crayons from the front desk & color to their hearts' content.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. ROTFLMAO!!!

[rpgamerd00d]

11. Bush Memorial Library burns down! Both books lost! One wasn't colored yet!

:rofl:

[davekriss]

24. Don'r forget the shelves of books,

all about a pet goat, no doubt!

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. I suspect the thoughts are more along the lines of which snacks to serve

Chips? Pork rinds?

The books are probably already picked out:
1) the fart book
2) my pet goat
3) an eyewitness guide to fishing

[CrazyOrangeCat]

3. Opine???

Methinks he had a bit of help with that one . . . what an asshat.

Maybe he meant opiates . . .

[woo me with science]

21. I bet he giggled when he said it. nt

[CrazyOrangeCat]

30. yeah, he's a real chucklenuts.

:dunce:

[npincus]

4. gee... and we know his head is not a crowded place.

[napi21]

5. It'll be an empty building if all it has is his ideas!

I think they should give it to Baylor. They're the only ones who will ever cross the threshold.

[shain from kane]

6. How appropriate that thinking about Hoover, another failed President,

would start him to thinking about his own legacy (of failure).

[bunny planet]

7. How many editions of 'My Pet Goat' can they purchase

with 20 million dollars?

[TheLeftyMom]

8. Wait a minute??!?! He's Methodist??!?!

Good Lord! I picked that denomination because it welcomed gays and lesbians and treated them like...well... people! You know? Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors?

Christ on a friggin bike. That really disturbs me for some reason.

[MADem]

14. Calm down....he's SOUTHERN Methodist. Distinct, and different

http://www.southernmethodistchurch.org/

The Southern Methodist Church is a biblically conservative denomination with churches located in the southeastern part of the United States.

With approximately 105 churches and 6,300 members located from Maryland to Florida, South Carolina to Texas, the denomination seeks to continue the doctrinal heritage of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and to spread the message of salvation and Biblical holiness that John Wesley preached.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Officially, both Bush Jr & Cheney are United Methodist.

(10/31/2005)

Last week, the United Methodist Church Board of Church and Society--the social action committee of the church that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney belong to--resoundingly passed a resolution calling for withdrawal with only two 'no' votes and one abstention.

"As people of faith, we raise our voice in protest against the tragedy of the unjust war in Iraq," the statement read. "Thousands of lives have been lost and hundreds of billions of dollars wasted in a war the United States initiated and should never have fought.... We grieve for all those whose lives have been lost or destroyed in this needless and avoidable tragedy. Military families have suffered undue hardship from prolonged troop rotations in Iraq and loss of loved ones. It is time to bring them home."

www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?pid=31572

Bush was raised Episcopalian but joined the UMC. You can follow his "spiritual journey" here--he went several steps beyond.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/

Bush is certainly not representative of the UMC, who have always impressed me as a pretty level-headed bunch.

[MADem]

26. Well, more likely he's actually a member of the

Church of the Egomaniac of Crawford and Camp David....

[wakeme2008]

9. BUSH 43 HATES CLINTON and President Clintons library is

nice and did cost a couple million. :rofl:

Bush 43 will want his to be twice as big and 4 time the money just to out do Bill. IMHO.

[MADem]

15. More people will still prefer to make a "Billgrimage" though

I just don't see people detouring to TX to look at a legacy of failure.

[Greenpeach]

10. He doesn't have a legacy to stand on! n/t

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. A Bush Think Tank?

He mis-spoke. He meant to say, "I think I want a drink tank".

[Pithy Cherub]

28. The ultimate oxymoron - Bush think tank...

:rofl:

[catmandu57]

13. There's a womens prison in whacko tejas

Maybe we could use one of the empty cells to put copies of My Pet Goat and 101 things to color on rainy days there.

[badgerpup]

16. How's this?

Give him the building and a few books IN EXCHANGE for the resignations of himself, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rove, Frist, (what other allegedly human garbage needs removed?).
Then let him play with his library and 'legacy' to his heart's content.
On his own dime, of course. He can afford it.
:evilgrin:

[virgdem]

17. And the name for this illustrious library can be...

The Bush Strategery Institute for Presidential Deciderating

[CrazyOrangeCat]

18. Ha!

Deciderating has a real Prezinential feel to it!

[woo me with science]

20. ROFL! and it can have a cafeteria

where you can put food on your family.

[Pithy Cherub]

29. Don't misunderestimate the allure of the preznit pretzel giftbaskets...

trademarked of course....

[Skidmore]

19. Thoughts!?! He can have more than one pigheaded thought

at a time? I highly doubt that.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

22. de Tocqueville must be turning over in his grave....

n/t

[davekriss]

23. Leave office in 2009?

The Senate impeachment conviction will take place in 2007, GeorgieBoy!

On edit: This truly is a case of Nero fiddling!!

[Vinca]

31. I'd like to contribute - where do I send the Little Golden Books? nt