Battle brews over Bush library ("it’s great, whether they agreed with the president or not")

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Battle brews over Bush library

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19996.html



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.

The former president and first lady have already begun holding small private dinners to persuade wealthy friends to invest in a monument and incubator based on the values and events of his presidency. By this fall, he’ll be armed with architect’s renderings and will hold travel around the country to meet with groups and build support for the complex on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Some of his new neighbors are less than thrilled with the plan, with a handful of history and political science professors lined up to criticize it.. But SMU fought hard to win the library, as one of eight original bidders and then four semi-finalists for the honor.

“We’ve certainly had to defend our decision, but absolutely feel like it was the right one,” SMU’s president, R. Gerald Turner, told POLITICO. “The overall sentiment on the faculty is that whether they agreed with the president personally or not, it’s great to have these papers and this resource on campus.”

[Vickers]

1. Incubator?

:shrug:

[yellowdogintexas]

2. 'handfull' How about the majority of the theology faculty? They started the

petition.

And the United Methodist Church hasn't had the final Jurisdictional Court hearing which will be in May to prevent the 'incubator' from being build on church owned land

[louis-t]

3. Monument will be a statue of a giggling jackass

giving everyone the finger. Incubator? Maybe they want to keep his vile germs alive long after he's gone.

[crimsonblue]

4. In 80 years this won't matter...

The Hoover Institute at Stanford was controversial at the time, but has since become an important public policy institute. However, SMU is no Stanford, and this will likely only fuel "compassionate conservative" ideology, which is pretty dangerous.