U.S. News reported yesterday that the library at SMU is struggling to meet its fund-raising goals:
Don’t say that former President Bush hasn’t been hit by the crumbling economy he handed off to President Obama. Friends tell us that it has slowed the drive to raise some $500 million to build and endow the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Dallas’s Southern Methodist University. “It’s a bad environment,” says one. Bush is taking no chances: He’s making donor calls himself, and even his dad, the 41st president, is helping out, as are former aides like Karl Rove. In the future, say associates, look for Bush to host fundraising events in order to meet a goal of completing construction in 2013. But for now, “he’s laying low,” says one.
24 comments
That damn Bush recession. Another in a long line of Bush-caused malaise—2005 tsunami, Buckner, Hindenberg, lost playground race circa 1993, the list goes on.
Someone obviously missed “House of Cards” on CNBC Thursday night.
“House of Cards” will air again tonight on CNBC from 8 to 10, as well as Monday from 5-7 a.m. and 7-9 p.m.
Matt, you forgot the hurricanes, the Internet bubble, and of course, the events of 9/11. It never ceases to amaze me how much power that one man had, and why he apparently used it in an attempt to destroy the world. I am in awe that this one man caused a generation to over-leverage themselves to historical proportions. Such power!
Matt and KRM: Allow me to introduce to Bruce Bartlett, conservative economist, author of Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (http://www.amazon.com/Impostor-George-Bankrupted-America-Betrayed/dp/0385518277/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234755146&sr=8-5), published in 2006. Some people saw it coming. Even conservatives.
Because if Bush had gone to Congress with a proposal to limit the recent explosion in homeownership, it would have gone over swimmingly.
Pointing the finger at Bush is the excuse for those too lazy to research the true roots of this calamity.
Wick,
Let me introduce you to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, just a few of the morons that decided to override good sense business practice with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by guilting everyone into making awful loans. They believed that everyone was entitled to a certain level of housing.
Talk to a true conservative and you will find that they were very critical of W and repubs for allowing this to happen. There are a lot of hands in this meltdown, those two geniuses are a great place to start.
Bush’s library is having trouble for a variety of reasons. It’s in the wrong place to begin with. Had they selected the UD site, they wouldn’t have had the land headaches SMU has had. They wouldn’t have neighbors complaining about building a parking garage. They would have had a final design for the library long ago instead of months from now. But no.. they went with the tiny SMU site. They’ve barely gotten clearance for the land, the neighbors are unhappy with the rumors they’re hearing about the design.. and now they’re having trouble raising money. It makes no sense.
Amen, NeitherParty. Wasn’t it Clinton that signed the legislation to make it easier for people to buy houses, even if they didn’t have the means? There is plenty of blame and lots of congresscritters to lay it on, along with a couple of presidents, and lobbyists (i.e. ACORN, Freddie Mac, etc.). And, of course, the idiots in the financial industry who abandoned all common sense and allowed those bad loans to be made, and encouraged people to load up on short-term debt through credit cards and HELOCs. It was a veritable spendfest, and Bush alone didn’t create that situation.
Time, Saturday edition: 25 People To Blame For The Financial Crisis:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html
Phil Gramm, Alan Greenspan, Bill Clinton, George Bush, Chris Cox… remember when Martha Stewart went to jail for “insider trading”? She should have been fined, not jailed. Don’t yopu remember the daily credit card applications that began when Clinton was in office? As usual, the white collars (SEC) were so busy making noise chasing the wrong rabbit when they should have looked at the ratings companies and what the hec they were rating.
We had better watch the Texas TDI lest they permit the insurance industry to run amock.
“libary”
{snicker}
Look at blogs that are in other cities. They trash this freakident from top to bottom.
This is is the only site that every supports
Mr. George W. Bush. As long as you realize that if you admire Bush, you are in a small minority. This is the irony. You have become a minority and we must feel compassion for you as you did for us.
Isn’t it odd, that the man who is at the root of all the worlds problems…connected in some fashion or another…lives in our city, near many of us. If they have any class, they will stay in their home, and create as little havoc as possible for their fellow neighbors.
What a joke. What a tool.
Never again, will a Texan rule
If you want to know how bad W did just 7 years after Al Qaeda attacked
on 911 we elected a black man with a Muslim sounding name. Incredible!! I love how the Republicans have suddenly become deficit hawks as of January 20th after eight years of wasteful spending. Bush is going to have a hard time raising funds, maybe Cheney can bankroll it.
I guess the media needs one “hit” piece a week against Bush. Just to keep it fresh. The latest half-truth story is the one about the parking garage on the north side of SMU Blvd. Story is full of crap. Everyone on that block has known for years that a parking garage was going in on that property. In addition, most of the homes on that block(there are only 7 homes) are scraped lot McMansions built since 2006. A couple were built in 2007-8. The most vocal critic in the article built the home knowing full well that a parking garage was going in behind his property before he bought the lot to build a McMansion.
I’m impressed that the critics of Bush must hang their hopes and dreams on a convicted John like Gary Vodicka or some guy who lives in a UP McMansion with Obama stickers plasterd on his bumper.
C’mon!
Oh my god…..I forgot to look at the blogs of other cities to help me form my opinion. You are the joke. After you scraped your “not my president” bumper sticker off, did you notice to look to see if anyone that did’t vote for Obama placed that idiotic bumper sticker on their car?
Get past your Bush hatred and see that most Texans are unhappy about Bush being tone deaf on immigration and the budget (from a conservative point of view). I will annunciate my disagreements with Obama and not try to paint him with the blame for every problem on earth like you geniuses have with Bush. Thanks for the lesson.
So I left W a surplus and he goes ahead and increases non-military spending. I also warned him (as did Richard Clark) about Al Qaeda but he was too busy jogging Crawford to read a memo or two.
Hard to believe, but W really was/is able to fool some of you people all the time. Enjoy the libary. I hear “My Pet Goat” is an engrossing read.
” Lie-Bury “
Every day when I wake up and remember that we have President B. Obama and a Democratic Congress, I say a little thank you to W.
Yeah if there is anything GWB and those people who masqueraded about like conservative republicans taught us the last 8 years is this… You can’t outspend a liberal.
As we have seen with this last “stimulus” bill.
Wick as a (former?) “fiscal conservative” what is your take on this “stimulus” bill?
Shame of you Bush haters.
History will remember W as one of our greatest Presidents. He makes George Washington look like well George H. W. Bush, just look at his record:
-After being warned by Clinton, Clarke, and the CIA “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” W canceled his vacation and sprung into action protecting us from an attack.
-Captured Osama Bin Ladin.
-Protected us from Saddam’s nuclear WMD’s, chemical weapons, and Bin Ladin’s terrorists.
-Iraq “Mission Accomplished” and Afghanistan so to be “Mission Accomplished”.
-His humble and thoughtful leadership was admired throughout the world.
-Protection of human rights spread freedom through out the world.
-Left the Middle East a more stable and peaceful place.
-Having inherited a surplus, increased it to record levels.
-Set an example by having his military age children enlist to fight in the major conflict of our generation.
-Attended too many military funerals to count.
-Ensured that Iraq and Afghanistan injured vets got the best health care available.
-As a type “A” work-aholic rarely took a vacation.
-Successfully rebuilt the Gulf Coast and Galveston soon to another shining example of his leadership.
-Reduced North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
-Brought honor to the White House: Just ask Scooter Libby, Claude Allen, David H. Safavian, Karl Rove, Valerie Plame or Jeff Gannon.
-His Justice Department was a model for nonpartisan ethical conduct.
-His deregulation left our food safer, air and water cleaner, and drugs safer.
-His out reach to minorities will be unmatched.
Thanks to W’s economic policies I can retire early, without health insurance! So shame on you Bush Haters, he was a great president who’s record speaks for its self.
Now where’s my kool-aid to go with my peanut butter sandwich?
Wick’s book does appear to make some interesting observations/indictments on Bush’s economic legacy, but none of these observations are seminal to the current recession. The medicare prescription drug bill and tax cuts did not cause the recession. I think Wick is confusing his perceived correlation with causation.
julie
W is not God, Obama is. Please redirect your daily thank you.
I’m too tired to read this whole thread. Have we gotten to the part where someone says we need to try him as a war criminal yet?
Speaking of George W. Bush:
George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).
George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.
And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.
Many people know what Bush did.
And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.
Bush was absolute evil.
Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.
Bush is a psychological prisoner.
Bush has a lot to worry about.
Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.
In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
“GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
______________________
I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.