George W. Bush Presidential Library opens today

[QUOTE="nocoolnamejim"]I assume it will have that famous copy of "The Pet Goat" in a special case due to its historical significance?dave123321

That's odd that a man who can't read is getting a library named after him.

[spoiler] I kid, I kid [/spoiler]

[QUOTE="danjammer69"][QUOTE="BossPerson"]

idk, as an Iraqi, I feel like I have the right to ride the Bush hate train until Im dead

BossPerson

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="Aljosa23"]

Despite being a war criminal and bringing about the biggest recession in a century he did a lot of good in Africa WRT HIV. Pretty bad President overall, though.

Aljosa23

Today is the opening day for the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas, Texas (I believe it is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University, which is where Bush's wife Laura went to college).

staffers at the Clinton presidential library expect that Bill Clinton will visit the Bush library and will want some renovations to be done to the Clinton library.

One of the more interesting features of the Bush library is an interactive feature where users get to step into Bush's shoes and get to make important decisions that Bush made. The visitor will hear information that Bush's aides and advisors gave him before making various decisions, and then the user will be asked to make a decision. After the visitor decides, Bush's image appears on screen and explains what decision he made and why. To me that feature sounds kind of cool, it's like your being president for a little bit and making a decision at a historical "decision point".

whipassmt

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I would like to go to this thing and see it. Bush gets a lot of unwarranted hate.

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themajormayor

[QUOTE="themajormayor"]

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whipassmt

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="themajormayor"]

.

themajormayor

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="themajormayor"]themajormayor

[QUOTE="JML897"][QUOTE="lamprey263"]it's supposed to have the largest collection of coloring books and books with picturescomp_atkins

Leaving aside your thoughts about the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, Can Republicans on this board mention 3 substantial accomplishments for President W. Bush? 1) ??? 2) ??? 3) ???Master_Live

Gas prices went down under Bush when the economy was in freefall. :P

Seriously though I'm a democrat, but I'll give this a shot however I'm going to require that the word substantial be removed.

1. He helped fund green energy jobs in this country which has been ramped up by Obama.

2. The economic stimulous act of 2008 has been pretty well excepted as a helpful thing by economists.

3. .........I got nothing.

The only thing that will make this library worth it is to put "haters gonna hate" as their official motto.

The only thing that will make this library worth it is to put "haters gonna hate" as their official motto.

one_plum

[QUOTE="one_plum"]

The only thing that will make this library worth it is to put "haters gonna hate" as their official motto.

Serraph105

hasn't there been talks of this for a while now? I'm just basing this off the fact of memories of hearing Conan make Bush Library jokes months, maybe years ago.

Nayway, this isn't really surprising, since evry other president has gotten one.

2. The economic stimulous act of 2008 has been pretty well excepted as a helpful thing by economists.

Serraph105

they should call it a "Libary" not a "Library"lamprey263

It's liberry.

As long as you can express that hate without flying planes into buildings or bombing marathons, then have a blast.... :PLostProphetFLCL

Bush's presidency was a disaster, but Obama's is looking to be far worse. With regards to his legacy, Bush will benefit greatly because he will be remembered as the president who was not as bad as Obama.Laihendi

How many copies of My Pet Goat does it have?

idk, as an Iraqi, I feel like I have the right to ride the Bush hate train until Im dead

[QUOTE="BossPerson"]

idk, as an Iraqi, I feel like I have the right to ride the Bush hate train until Im dead

whipassmt

Leaving aside your thoughts about the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, Can Republicans on this board mention 3 substantial accomplishments for President W. Bush? 1) ??? 2) ??? 3) ???Master_Live

I'm not really a Republican as much as I'm just more conservative yet do not like the Republican party but...

He greatly increased the aid spending to Africa to help fight AIDS. Went from just several hundred million to several billion ending up with a total of $15 billion over the 8 years.

Lowered taxes on everybody and kept them lower. Disagree with it or not, it's still an accomplishment that was felt by every tax payer.

Early medicare reform which was very popular and did a lot of good for senior citizens.

Really any accomplishment of any president is going to be considered a failure with people who disagree. Things like No Child Left Behind and the wars were all bi-partisan. Actually No Child Left Behind increased total education funding to the highest levels they ever were while actually improving test scores. The only two standardized tests required by the acts are on reading and math, two areas where standardized tests are an accurate measure of one's ability. The reason schools hated it is because it had provisions that held the schools accountable. Unions and school administrators hated that and ran a massive campaign against it for that reason despite the increases in education. 

It was also an accomplishment that no major terrorist attack happened on US soil after 9/11 and there was a very quick response to the presence of terrorist networks in Afghanistan. This was all prior to the invasion of Iraq which was just a bad move all together. 

[QUOTE="BossPerson"][QUOTE="danjammer69"] Not trying to be a smartass. But I need to ask: Would you prefer to have lived or have had your family continue to live under Sadaam Hussein? I understand that the country was left in a terrible state, both politically and physically. But were Iraqis better off having Hussein left in power? This is an honest question, I am not trying to infer anything. I didn't live there. I only had the media and my own personal knowledge of Iraq to form judgment.CreasianDevaili

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="BossPerson"]

idk, as an Iraqi, I feel like I have the right to ride the Bush hate train until Im dead

TheWalkingGhost

This article, by Walter Russell Mead, written on March 12, 2003 (right before the war started) points out the humanitarian and strategic costs of "containment", the policy that the U.S. pursued against Iraq after the Gulf War and before the Iraq War, and might still be pursuing today if there was no Iraq War.

Things like No Child Left Behind and the wars were all bi-partisan. Actually No Child Left Behind increased total education funding to the highest levels they ever were while actually improving test scores. The only two standardized tests required by the acts are on reading and math, two areas where standardized tests are an accurate measure of one's ability. The reason schools hated it is because it had provisions that held the schools accountable. Unions and school administrators hated that and ran a massive campaign against it for that reason despite the increases in education.Wasdie

Everytime I see bush it just reminds me what a crock of shit our government is.

Everytime I see bush it just reminds me what a crock of shit our government is.

junglist101

[QUOTE="Master_Live"]Leaving aside your thoughts about the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, Can Republicans on this board mention 3 substantial accomplishments for President W. Bush? 1) ??? 2) ??? 3) ???Wasdie

I'm not really a Republican as much as I'm just more conservative yet do not like the Republican party but...

He greatly increased the aid spending to Africa to help fight AIDS. Went from just several hundred million to several billion ending up with a total of $15 billion over the 8 years.

Lowered taxes on everybody and kept them lower. Disagree with it or not, it's still an accomplishment that was felt by every tax payer.

Early medicare reform which was very popular and did a lot of good for senior citizens.

Really any accomplishment of any president is going to be considered a failure with people who disagree. Things like No Child Left Behind and the wars were all bi-partisan. Actually No Child Left Behind increased total education funding to the highest levels they ever were while actually improving test scores. The only two standardized tests required by the acts are on reading and math, two areas where standardized tests are an accurate measure of one's ability. The reason schools hated it is because it had provisions that held the schools accountable. Unions and school administrators hated that and ran a massive campaign against it for that reason despite the increases in education.

It was also an accomplishment that no major terrorist attack happened on US soil after 9/11 and there was a very quick response to the presence of terrorist networks in Afghanistan. This was all prior to the invasion of Iraq which was just a bad move all together.

All the books will have pictures.

One of the more interesting features of the Bush library is an interactive feature where users get to step into Bush's shoes and get to make important decisions that Bush made. The visitor will hear information that Bush's aides and advisors gave him before making various decisions, and then the user will be asked to make a decision. After the visitor decides, Bush's image appears on screen and explains what decision he made and why. To me that feature sounds kind of cool, it's like your being president for a little bit and making a decision at a historical "decision point".

 

whipassmt

This is shit on so many levels, the most obvious being that no president is just some impartial spectator who just listens to everything, weighs it as objectively as possible, and then simply makes a decision.  First off he appointed most of the people he's listening to, and secondly there are multiple accounts from staffers of him listening to the advice being given in the briefings, then going behind closed doors with Rumsfeld and Cheney and completely ignoring what their opponents were saying.  Seriously, f*ck this whole exhibit with a pinecone.

They should of named a golf course after him.seahorse123

Or a detox center.

I'm not really a Republican as much as I'm just more conservative yet do not like the Republican party but...

He greatly increased the aid spending to Africa to help fight AIDS. Went from just several hundred million to several billion ending up with a total of $15 billion over the 8 years.

Lowered taxes on everybody and kept them lower. Disagree with it or not, it's still an accomplishment that was felt by every tax payer.

Early medicare reform which was very popular and did a lot of good for senior citizens.

Really any accomplishment of any president is going to be considered a failure with people who disagree. Things like No Child Left Behind and the wars were all bi-partisan. Actually No Child Left Behind increased total education funding to the highest levels they ever were while actually improving test scores. The only two standardized tests required by the acts are on reading and math, two areas where standardized tests are an accurate measure of one's ability. The reason schools hated it is because it had provisions that held the schools accountable. Unions and school administrators hated that and ran a massive campaign against it for that reason despite the increases in education. 

It was also an accomplishment that no major terrorist attack happened on US soil after 9/11 and there was a very quick response to the presence of terrorist networks in Afghanistan. This was all prior to the invasion of Iraq which was just a bad move all together. 

Wasdie

Yeah, the low taxes were felt by every taxpayer in that they contributed to a massive defecit and when the economy crashed and we actually needed government spending the well was completely dry.  That a policy is significant in scope does not actually make it an accomplishment.  By that logic the Holocaust was a massive accomplishment.

Medicare reform was popular amongst seniors because it helped them with their medical expenses.  It was massively unpopular with everyone else (including conservatives) not simply because it didn't affect them directly at the time, but also because it was unfunded and basically tied the government to shelling out huge amounts of money to prescription drug corporations without being able to shop for lower drug prices.

NCLB ties funding directly to test scores, which leads to teaching to the test and which has been massively unsuccessful in raising overall math and science comprehension, and which also cuts funding to schools that need it the most.  Schools which already have high math and science scores, and typically have relatively high funding to begin with, get more funding and underfunded schools with low math and science scores get even less funding.  NCLB is considered a massive failure by education experts on both sides of the aisle.

This last part is shit and you should feel bad for making this argument.  The most obvious point here is that you're selectively taking one point in time as the sample for when to measure terrorist attacks, the period after 9/11.  I'm sad that I actually have to point out that 9/11 DID occur during his presidency and therefore if we're going to talk about the frequency of terrorist attacks happening on his watch we should really be including 9/11 with that.  It's also relevant that terrorist attacks are inherently unpredictable and it's not really within any president's power to be able to completely prevent every possible terrorist attack.  We should also note that we don't have a specific number of attempted terrorist attacks that were foiled during his presidency, so to say that  no terrorist attakcs occured on his watch would be tantamount to saying it never snowed in July on his watch.  Furthermore, if we did know every terrorist attack that was planned and thrarted it still doesn't tell us how it was thwarted.  Every thwarted attempt could have absolutely nothing to do with anything Bush did, so to ascribe such success in thwarting them to him is inherently fallacious.

You say you don't like Republicans, but you seem pretty intent on towing the party line even at the expense of basic logic.  This is becoming a pretty common tactic amongst Republicans, to profess a complete disgust with the party even while completely agreeing with everything it does.

[QUOTE="Wasdie"]

[QUOTE="Master_Live"]Leaving aside your thoughts about the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, Can Republicans on this board mention 3 substantial accomplishments for President W. Bush? 1) ??? 2) ??? 3) ???whipassmt

I'm not really a Republican as much as I'm just more conservative yet do not like the Republican party but...

He greatly increased the aid spending to Africa to help fight AIDS. Went from just several hundred million to several billion ending up with a total of $15 billion over the 8 years.

Lowered taxes on everybody and kept them lower. Disagree with it or not, it's still an accomplishment that was felt by every tax payer.

Early medicare reform which was very popular and did a lot of good for senior citizens.

Really any accomplishment of any president is going to be considered a failure with people who disagree. Things like No Child Left Behind and the wars were all bi-partisan. Actually No Child Left Behind increased total education funding to the highest levels they ever were while actually improving test scores. The only two standardized tests required by the acts are on reading and math, two areas where standardized tests are an accurate measure of one's ability. The reason schools hated it is because it had provisions that held the schools accountable. Unions and school administrators hated that and ran a massive campaign against it for that reason despite the increases in education.

It was also an accomplishment that no major terrorist attack happened on US soil after 9/11 and there was a very quick response to the presence of terrorist networks in Afghanistan. This was all prior to the invasion of Iraq which was just a bad move all together.

That really doesn't justify NCLB as a whole.  They could have just as easily carried out that study without tacking it to the bill as a whole, in fact the fact that they tacked a good provision on to a bad bill probably helped that bill pass.

Bush opened a library?

I didn't know he could read.

Bush opened a library?

I didn't know he could read.

LazySloth718

idk, as an Iraqi, I feel like I have the right to ride the Bush hate train until Im dead

BossPerson

Hah, what's in that library? Picture books? 

Bush opened a library?

I didn't know he could read.

LazySloth718

lol you jut reminded me of this