Set in Stone: Chiseling Away at the Bush Liberry

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7375

Set in Stone: Chiseling Away at the Bush Liberry
by Jaime O'Neill | May 10 2007


I said I was looking for a book to read, Laura said you ought to try Camus. I also read three Shakespeares. ... I've got a eck-a-lec-tic reading list."
--George W. Bush, interview with NBC's Brian Williams, New Orleans, La., Aug. 29, 2006


In anticipation of the day when George W. Bush is no longer in office, it is perhaps appropriate to give some thought to the prospect of a George W. Bush Presidential Library. The concept may seem oxymoronic to some. After all, how do we go about building a library for a man who appears so proud of his alienation from printed matter? He boasts of not reading newspapers, and there is little to be found in any of his public statements to suggest a familiarity with any book, whatsoever. The thought of our current president reading, say, Shakespeare, defies imagining. It is difficult to think of him reading Danielle Steele, or John Grisham, let alone the Bard of Avon.

But if the Bush presidency has been about anything, it's been about breaking free of the fetters of the traditional past. It was the Bush presidency, after all, that did away with the fussy old notion about the U.S. not engaging in unilateral acts of first-strike aggression against sovereign nations. It was George Bush, after all, who redefined a "conservative" as someone who believed in enormous deficits. And it was the Bush administration that accelerated the separation of language from action by constantly saying one thing while meaning another; i.e. "Clear Skies" initiatives, and "No Child Left Behind."

Given all that, it may turn out that the George W. Bush Presidential Library (or, perhaps, "Liberry") will be equally surprising in the ways it breaks with tradition, and with meaning.

snip//

There is certain to be a wing of the Liberry devoted to George Bush, the dreamer.

That wing could be introduced with these words: "...America˜a literate country and a hopefuller country." Or, in that same vein, try to imagine these words set in stone: " My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate." What could be more visionary?

At this point in time, the George W. Bush Presidential Liberry exists only in the imagination, but it won't be long before such a place becomes a reality. Future visitors are, however, encouraged to bring their own books.

And crayons.

[AndyA]

1. And barf bags.

While I loved Clinton's Library, I would never be able to stomach going to any structure that housed the trappings of *'s pResidency, which would best be displayed in the sewer, which is where he's taken this country.

[GainesT1958]

2. Across the entranceway...

They should be required to etch the words:

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It's just a G**damned piece of paper!"

That pretty much sums up the ability, and the desire, Dub had to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" for eight all-too-long years!:eyes:

B-)

[Ookie]

3. Well, I do hope they will have the book he was reading

When airplanes were crashing into buildings in NY. Then maybe, we will all know what was so mesmerizing that he couldn't tear himself away. Jeez, I can't wait for this moron to be gone.

[morgan2]

4. sounds like a good idea

pool some money together and donate 1000s of copies of my pet goat.

[yurbud]

5. He will need a liberry as big as the Library of Congress for documentation of impeachable offenses