George W. Bush Library at SMU

[Foxfyre]

It simply is not true that conservatives did not criticize President Bush and the Republican congress for their excesses in spending and over reach in the expansion of government. It was us, after all, that voted the Republican Party out of power in 2006. Unfortunately we replaced a devil we did know with one far worse at that time, but hindsight is 20 20 and all that.

It is equally unfortunate that more than four years later, President Bush is still the bogey man to the left, and they refuse to see or acknowledge any of the sins or excesses of the current administration and continue to blame Bush for everything. They also refuse to see anything positive that the Bush administration accomplished.

Not entirely true. Bush was a pretty terrible president and as you point out, many on the right thought so too. As for Obama, the left hasn't been very happy with him either. But their position is the same as yours was under Bush. You honestly think they would vote for the other guy?

The truth, as I see it, is that both sides are talking out their asses. Both presidents suck and mostly for the same reasons. They both suck the tit of big business (as did their predecessors) while ignoring the very real problems of America losing it's ability to compete on the global stage. More accurately I should say corporatism has caused the problem of America losing its edge in the name of cheap manufacturing and fatter profits.

Yes, Presidential libraries have always emphasized the positives of whatever administration they represent. And I suspect those who are interested in honest history instead of partisan hatefulness, will be amazed at how much positive there is to know about the Bush administration and that will be highlighted n his library.

I see presidential libraries roughly as important as burger joints. And most burger joints draw a larger crowd.

That's certainly your prerogative. And it is also the prerogative of those who want the whole history and not just the criticizable part, to see presidential libraries differently.

 

[Truthseeker420]

Having the Bush Library is like having the Hitler Humanitarian Center and their mission statement is lol funny.

 

[Foxfyre]

And the haters gonna hate.

 

[midcan5]

I was surprised to hear that George W. Bush's favorite literature is the same as the books I read to my granddaughter. 'Where's Spot?,' 'Spot: Night-Night, Spot,' and 'Spot Goes to School,' are among George's favorites. Laura reads him Night Night Spot every evening before bed. The library will be a great place to take the children, I've heard they even play 'where'd those wmds go?' a sorta hide and seek in which nothing is found, but it's still great fun.

As usual for progressives, snark instead of substance.

Bush is the boogey man that hides in liberals closets, with Sarah Palin playing the monster under the bed.

Listen my granddaughter at two and a half loves these books and knows just about every line and every hidden object, so I'd hardly call them names. They are excellent, visiting children will love them too.

 

[foxyladi]

It is a beautiful library.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

At least Bush didn't have to pardon one of the FBI's 10 most wanted to extort a Million from his wife like sleaze bag Clinton. Clinton pardoned the most notorious corporate pirate at that time in history, Marc Rich while he was wanted and the next thing you know the Clinton library gets a million dollar donation.

Clinton's presidential signature benefiting corporate players including but not limited to Marc Rich got him about a hundred million dollars in speech and consulting fees in his first ten years out of office. Clinton was paid these monies without inventing anything, improving any process, or creating a single private sector job.

No other US public official ever collected anything close to that amount of grift after leaving their government job. There is no basis for those kind of fees in the history of humanity.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

How is it that Obama has not found a way to divert funding from this project to free birth control or Obamacare?

These libraries, all built with nonfederal funds then donated to the federal government, are operated and maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration

So, who maintains these monuments to imperial life and who pays the employees? Is it taxpayers?

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

I personally would like to see Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld charged with war crimes and with war profiteering, and tried under international law for their conduct of the war in Iraq. I know it's not going to happen, but if there is any justice left in this world, they should.

Many of us know enough to share your hopes and disappointments.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

It simply is not true that conservatives did not criticize President Bush and the Republican congress for their excesses in spending and over reach in the expansion of government. It was us, after all, that voted the Republican Party out of power in 2006. Unfortunately we replaced a devil we did know with one far worse at that time, but hindsight is 20 20 and all that.

It is equally unfortunate that more than four years later, President Bush is still the bogey man to the left, and they refuse to see or acknowledge any of the sins or excesses of the current administration and continue to blame Bush for everything. They also refuse to see anything positive that the Bush administration accomplished.

Not entirely true. Bush was a pretty terrible president and as you point out, many on the right thought so too. As for Obama, the left hasn't been very happy with him either. But their position is the same as yours was under Bush. You honestly think they would vote for the other guy?

The truth, as I see it, is that both sides are talking out their asses. Both presidents suck and mostly for the same reasons. They both suck the tit of big business (as did their predecessors) while ignoring the very real problems of America losing it's ability to compete on the global stage. More accurately I should say corporatism has caused the problem of America losing its edge in the name of cheap manufacturing and fatter profits.

[snip]

Excellent points, especially [imo] this part.

Some might add that government has abandoned its duty to ensure paper entities like corporations behave responsibly - by whatever standard reasonable people can establish. Maybe this is wrong, but there seems to be no sense of community obligation or even national obligation any more, just the search for price points and profits regardless of the costs to street level Americans.

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Junebug's place in history is not in doubt. His maternal family's best known great uncle Franklin Pierce has moved up a step in the ranks of presidential performance ratings.

To be sure, if Obama doesn't break with corporations and get something done for either the United States as an entity or its citizens as "America", Pierce seems likely to be two notches higher from the bottom in 2017 than he was in 2000.