Is it really cold in your room?
Posted on 11/27/2006 2:23:56 AM PST by RWR8189
WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign - an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library. Eager to begin refurbishing his tattered legacy, the President hopes to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush lived in Dallas until he was elected governor of Texas in 1995.
Bush sources with direct knowledge of library plans told the Daily News that SMU and Bush fund-raisers hope to get half of the half billion from what they call "megadonations" of $10 million to $20 million a pop.
Bush loyalists have already identified wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry as potential "mega" donors and are pressing for a formal site announcement - now expected early in the new year.
"You can't ask people in Dallas for $20 million until they can be sure the library won't be in Waco," one Bush source noted.
The rest of the cash will come from donors willing to pony up $25,000 to $5 million.
"It's a stretch," said another source briefed on the plans. "It's so much bigger than anything that's been tried before. But the more you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert."
The half-billion target is double what Bush raised for his 2004 reelection and dwarfs the funding of other presidential libraries. But Bush partisans are determined to have a massive pile of endowment cash to spread the gospel of a presidency that for now gets poor marks from many scholars and a majority of Americans.
The legacy-polishing centerpiece is an institute, which several Bush insiders called the Institute for Democracy. Patterned after Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Bush's institute will hire conservative scholars and "give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President's policies," one Bush insider said.
Presidential libraries are run by the National Archives and Records Administration, but building costs must come from private donations. Bells and whistles, like an institute or an academic program like Bush's father's public service school at Texas A&M, are also extras.
The News reported in March 2005 that the library will be at SMU, where First Lady Laura Bush is an alumna and sits on the board of trustees. But a formal announcement has been delayed by a legal dispute over some of the land where the library complex will be built.
It remains to be seen whether Bush's low standing in the polls and his rejection by voters in the midterm elections will make it harder to raise funds. That was true for former President Jimmy Carter, who struggled to fund his library center after being defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980.
But planners believe hometown and Texas pride will outweigh any drag from Bush's diminished political fortunes. "The money will be there," a senior Bush adviser said. "The President is very popular in Dallas and the library will be great for the city and SMU."
There's another major inducement for potential donors: Their names aren't required to be made public.
Building a presidential library with any Arab money is sickening. If it can't be built with American money, don't build it.
As to the deficit, anyone with an IQ above room temperature will be able to figure out that....terrorist attack plus war equals trouble and that congress controls the purse strings.
Yep, this president is going to be a hero whether those who hate him like it or not.
Where were you when Clinton's library was being built?
I agree. Unfortunately that's how it gets done. Payback time for protecting their @ss.
Good one! Blackbird.
$500 million, not billion FRiend.
I wonder how much Hillary will get these morons to spend on hers?
Is it really cold in your room?
Nope, it isn't. Have you bothered to read the constitution?
Let's not count those chickens before they hatch.
Have you? There's this thing called a veto... might want to read about it. You and W.
I remember people saying Reagan was responsible for huge deficits as well, of course that money ended up bringing down communism in the USSR. I figure that was a pretty good investment. It will be the same for Islamofacism.
Yes, you're right, it's not yet all written, but North Korea has been on the burner for well over a decade and the same with Iran. Actually, Iran has been a growing problem since Carter.
Yes, I have read it. Congress holds the purse strings and makes the laws. Since the people ELECTED congress and the senate to do that job a veto should only be used rarely especially if the congress and senate are of the same party as the elected president.
So, you think it's OK that the people elected a republcan congress and a republican senate and expect a republican president to veto them? How about the congress do it's job? The only time there should be veto threats is if the congress and senate are in the hands of the opposition party.
| Real Spending | Percent Increases | ||||||
| Department | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | Clinton I | Clinton II | Bush I |
| Department of Agriculture | 17,011 | 16,154 | 17,206 | 18,711 | -5.0% | 6.5% | 8.8% |
| Department of Commerce | 3,412 | 4,206 | 4,964 | 5,419 | 23.3% | 18.0% | 9.2% |
| Department of Education | 27,191 | 25,569 | 34,983 | 50,623 | -6.0% | 36.8% | 44.7% |
| Department of Energy | 21,195 | 18,144 | 18,018 | 21,582 | -14.4% | -0.7% | 19.8% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | 32,637 | 34,801 | 45,824 | 61,383 | 6.6% | 31.7% | 34.0% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | 27,780 | 32,720 | 32,205 | 36,775 | 17.8% | -1.6% | 14.2% |
| Department of Justice | 9,974 | 13,253 | 17,264 | 17,274 | 32.9% | 30.3% | 0.1% |
| Department of Labor | 11,180 | 10,419 | 10,169 | 10,290 | -6.8% | -2.4% | 1.2% |
| Department of State | 7,192 | 5,952 | 6,747 | 9,431 | -17.2% | 13.3% | 39.8% |
| Department of Transportation | 34,922 | 36,389 | 44,563 | 52,126 | 4.2% | 22.5% | 17.0% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 7,191 | 6,895 | 7,411 | 7,577 | -4.1% | 7.5% | 2.2% |
| Department of the Interior | 8,349 | 7,584 | 8,759 | 9,984 | -9.2% | 15.5% | 14.0% |
| Department of Homeland Security | 10,908 | 11,423 | 14,841 | 27,802 | 4.7% | 29.9% | 87.3% |
Comments:
Table 2: Real Discretionary Budget Authority by Agency (millions)
| Percent Increases | |||||||
| Department | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | Clinton I | Clinton II | Bush I |
| Department of Agriculture | 18,245 | 16,529 | 18,763 | 17,158 | -9.4% | 13.5% | -8.6% |
| Department of Commerce | 3,790 | 4,059 | 4,971 | 5,147 | 7.1% | 22.5% | 3.5% |
| Department of Education | 28,065 | 28,298 | 39,115 | 51,628 | 0.8% | 38.2% | 32.0% |
| Department of Energy | 22,653 | 17,551 | 19,537 | 21,223 | -22.5% | 11.3% | 8.6% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | 35,455 | 36,543 | 52,818 | 61,369 | 3.1% | 44.5% | 16.2% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | 28,438 | 15,980 | 27,659 | 28,150 | -43.8% | 73.1% | 1.8% |
| Department of Justice | 10,208 | 15,723 | 17,947 | 16,881 | 54.0% | 14.1% | -5.9% |
| Department of Labor | 11,712 | 10,889 | 11,664 | 10,697 | -7.0% | 7.1% | -8.3% |
| Department of State | 7,288 | 5,875 | 7,583 | 9,237 | -19.4% | 29.1% | 21.8% |
| Department of Transportation | 12,272 | 11,007 | 14,320 | 12,019 | -10.3% | 30.1% | -16.1% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 8,146 | 7,224 | 7,642 | 6,986 | -11.3% | 5.8% | -8.6% |
| Department of the Interior | 8,292 | 7,784 | 10,015 | 9,768 | -6.1% | 28.7% | -2.5% |
| Department of Homeland Security | 10,601 | 14,203 | 15,653 | 25,495 | 34.0% | 10.2% | 62.9% |
Technically Bush cut spending in five departments based on authority. But. Actual spending was up in all 13. So. Bush's legacy about spending is "Aw, just let them do it."
Actually Bush's legacy will be this:
(From Bush's press conference after the Nov. 11th elections.) "And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made -- actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday. Shows what I know. But I thought we were going to be fine in the election. My point to you is, is that, win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee."
"Shows what I know".
Sounds about right for the Bush legacy.
Yeah, and.......? What part of CONGRESS HOLDS THE PURSE STRINGS don't you get? Funny, the rest of America understood that concept, that's why they voted the bums out.
Relax, in a couple months it'll be safe to blame Pelosi.
You dont recall? dont make me laugh...
YEAH and what part of Bush never demanded budget cuts don't you get?
When, in Bush's last six years did he mount a campaign to cut the budget?
Better yet--don't build it with anybody's money, and close all the rest of the damned "library pyramids". "Presidential Library" my a**.
Big whoo!
W's library would be the priciest...until the library for the 44th president is built.
It appears you think you live in a monarchy instead of a republic. The days of kings in the US went away a long time ago.
What on earth is that supposed to mean? Does Congress have the only say in the budget? Is the president merely a eunuch when it comes to fiscal policy? Bush is no king but he's supposed to set the budget. He makes the budget requests and congress either funds it or doesn't.
Maybe you need a remedial course in the Constitution.
Tattered legacy???? Where does somebody get this?
Nobody liked Lincoln in his lifetime either. Nobody.
I'd like to see the bulk of the W library be online.
But do you know where it should be? Not in Texas. In NYC.
Why NY?
Repair his tattered legacy....did you hear that ONCE when Clinton's library was being built?
The statue of him with the megaphone would have much less impact at SMU.
Not quite. You flunked math today.
So, when Congress attaches unnecessary spending to very necessary spending in support of the war, you favor cutting off funds to support the troops in harms' way, and forcing the President to take all of the heat for it.
You've got the decimals in the wrong place. He's trying to raise $500 not $500 billion. That amount would reduce the from $10 trillion to $9.9995 trillion.
You've got the decimals in the wrong place. He's trying to raise $500 not $500 billion. That amount would reduce the debt from $10 trillion to $9.9995 trillion.
You are probably right. Remember the total shock of the media when Reagan's funeral procession passed in California (one of the most liberal states in the union) and all those cars pulled over the people got out? The media was so sure they had destroyed his legacy too.
I had posted that chart to support your posts. I am on your side regarding Bush's unrepentant spending.
Ah, so you think the president should disregard the will of the people when it comes to the duty assigned to congress by the constitution?
Sure, we could have eliminated most of the deficit by telling New York they have to fix their own hole, and tell the airlines that Americans would rather walk than have to subsidise the airlines. We also could have avoided all that military spending too just by coming up with some kind of theory about fuel lines or something causing those "accidents" at the WTC.
Sorry! My bad!
Will W's library be built by ILLEGAL aliens - building presidential libraries no American is willing to build??
Are you too young to remember all the screaming and moaning about the deficits during the Reagan administration?
"Yeah, and.......? What part of CONGRESS HOLDS THE PURSE STRINGS don't you get? "
Doesn't the President have a little thing called a veto?
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