W library in record book

$500M center would be priciest for a Prez

Daily News Exclusive

BY THOMAS M. DeFRANK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

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.

Originally published on November 27, 2006

Kind of like Mahatma Gandhi wanting a gun museum. But it's hard for me to complain about having another library in the world.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

juz becuze he wants a libarry.

Isn't this the guy who says he doesn't read?

I'll bet Heinz is good for ten mil and Soros another 20 or so.....

"I wanna start one of those places where they keep books,all presidents have them"

I heard somewhere that Rove and Bush are in a contest to see who reads the most books this year.
Any bets on whether W has ever had a library card?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

It won't cost that much; the goofy Child President already colored in the only book he's ever opened.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

There is already a George Bush Center for Intelligence. Why does he need a lie berry?

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

I like the part that explains the institute will pay "scholars" to write favorable things. I think that sums up his Presidency pretty well.

__________________
Question Authority before it Questions you.

Reading is one thing, comprehending what you read is another story.

__________________
Question Authority before it Questions you.

Oh mah ghod, where is my checkbook?

I heard one on the radio the other night about a fire at the White House. Bush's library was burned and both books were destroyed, including one that hadn't been all the way colored in.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Yeah, but I bet Rove isn't reading the Hardy Boys...

babysitters club? the boxcar children?....

I heard he's into Victorian boy's literature,like "Merry pranks of the Eton cricket team","Frolicsome Frank or life in the Sandhurst junior dormitory" and "Whitechapel at midnight with David and Jonathan" or"Self-Abuse or the penance of pleasure"and suchlike fodder.