# $500 million George W. Bush Library and Think Tank - pure comedy gold **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608 "2006-12-02T18:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/1 "2006-12-02T18:52:47Z")
[http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/475052p-399492c.html](http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/475052p-399492c.html) > [@](#): > > 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. This may be richest vein of pure comedy since Monica Lewinsky. Let’s some of the more obvious ones out of the way: $500 million! That’s a lot of coloring books! Will there be a “My Pet Goat” wing? Refurbish his tattered legacy? I’m not sure $500 million is going to cut it.. \ ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/2 "2006-12-02T18:57:53Z")
Given his paranoid obssession with secrecy, it makes you wonder how much of his administration’s administration will be deposited there. Given his obvious disinclination toward reading itself, it makes you wonder how many of his preferred literary selections will be deposited there as well. Maybe they’re using the term “library” quite loosely. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/3 "2006-12-02T19:00:15Z")
What’s a think tank in this context? I’m not making a bash, just wondering what it is they’ll be pondering… is it the same kind of thing as the PNAC? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/4 "2006-12-02T20:08:22Z")
“You mean, he’s going to start reading NOW?!” ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/5 "2006-12-02T20:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] What’s a think tank in this context? I’m not making a bash, just wondering what it is they’ll be pondering… is it the same kind of thing as the PNAC? [/QUOTE] Plagiarism? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/6 "2006-12-02T20:21:48Z")
To the irritation of some patrons, all the librarians will be kept in an undisclosed location. First volume to be removed from circulation: _Sex_, by John Ashcroft. “What did the President read, and when did he read it?” Second volume to be removed from circulation: _Hop on Pop_, by Lynndie England. In 100 years, Geraldo’s descendents will go to a vault in the library’s basement, hoping to find Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. > [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > What’s a think tank in this context? I’m not making a bash, just wondering what it is they’ll be pondering… is it the same kind of thing as the PNAC? According to the article… > [@](#): > > 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. …it’s going to sponsor a lot of fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/7 "2006-12-02T20:25:00Z")
I understand that the institute will feature everlasting hashpipes in the ‘de Toqueville’ reading room; a salute to the French _and_ Bush’s college days. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/8 "2006-12-02T20:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] According to the article… …it’s going to sponsor a lot of fiction. [/QUOTE] Hey, wait. Didn’t this already happen a few decades ago in Germany? Some guy who paid a lot of money to have politically biased literature written and distributed to the people? I think they did a few films, too… ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/9 "2006-12-02T20:42:51Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] What’s a think tank in this context? I’m not making a bash, just wondering what it is they’ll be pondering… is it the same kind of thing as the PNAC? [/QUOTE] My first WAG was something like [this](http://www.ballpitplus.com/site/716229/product/ITX48657). (Or maybe a sensory-deprivation tank, since that seems consistent with his level of connection to the “reality-based” universe). ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/10 "2006-12-02T21:02:58Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. I know this is MPSIMS, but that is just frightening. “We’ve never been at war with Afghanistan, we’ve always been at war with Iraq.” ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/11 "2006-12-02T21:28:46Z")
I understand it’s going to be called the George W. Bush Presidential Liberry. At least according to (I think) _Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me_ … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/12 "2006-12-02T21:32:38Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. Translated: “We’ll be rewriting history in an attempt to make Bush look intelligent.” I think that would require more money than the current US national debt. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/13 "2006-12-02T22:26:36Z")
Maybe at the grand opening he’ll sign some copies of what he thinks is his biography: _Curious George_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/14 "2006-12-02T22:31:39Z")
What’s the guessing that at the opening ceremony, he’ll call it by the name my wife’s rather dim ex-colleague in Dublin always used to use: “tink thank”. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/15 "2006-12-02T22:33:18Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Translated: “We’ll be rewriting history in an attempt to make Bush look intelligent.” I think that would require more money than the current US national debt. [/QUOTE] Now, hold on just a minute! Fifteen years ago we all KNEW \*\*Ronald Reagan \*\* was a malevolent fucking moron, and now he’s been turned into the [Greatest President Since George Washington Except for Maybe Abraham Lincoln](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30216). Do not underestimate the power of the Republican Propaganda Machine. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/16 "2006-12-03T01:26:39Z")
Ugh, I might be the closest Doper to this nightmare. Interesting how the President George H W Bush turnpike is now the George Bush Turnpike. I never drive on that road. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/17 "2006-12-03T02:58:30Z")
Wasn’t Clinton’s around like ~160m? Damn inflation… ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/18 "2006-12-03T03:32:57Z")
He thought they said “Drunk Tank”, and figured, well, it worked for Betty Ford… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/19 "2006-12-03T03:41:26Z")
Let’s see, that would be $499,999,999.01 for the buliding and the rest for the book? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608/20 "2006-12-03T04:06:06Z")
[QUOTE=Ukulele Ike] Now, hold on just a minute! Fifteen years ago we all KNEW \*\*Ronald Reagan \*\* was a malevolent fucking moron, and now he’s been turned into the [Greatest President Since George Washington Except for Maybe Abraham Lincoln](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30216). Do not underestimate the power of the Republican Propaganda Machine. [/QUOTE] Bush hating Republican here. I never thought Reagan was a malevolent fucking moron. I do think his faculties went downhill swiftly in the second term, but in the first term he put in motion the pieces that renewed American strength and ended the cold war. I know this is an unpopular belief on the SDMB, but it seems more like revisionist history to me that Reagan did not at least successfully do this. If you want to condemn his environmental policies led by James Watt and his de-regulation policies, I am right there with you. He actually appointed some damn good Supreme Court Justices. Sandra Day O’Connor in particular should be enough to disprove the malevolent part. Anthony Kennedy has a good record for being fair minded and even if you hate his conservative stance, most would concede that William Rehnquistwas a good Chief Justice of the United States. Back to the George W. Bush Library. I am sure it will include a DIY book on better hunting techniques by Cheney. Jim [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/500-million-george-w-bush-library-and-think-tank-pure-comedy-gold/382608.md?page=2)