Nattering Nabobs of Negativism

You write that faculty critics are trying hard not to frame issue as Bush bashing. Yet their letter blames the Bush administration for the “erosion of habeas corpus, denial of global warming, disrespect of international treaties, alienation of long-time U.S. allies, environmental predation, disregard for rights of gay persons, a pre-emptive war based on false premises, and other perceived disrespect for the created order and global community.”

I suspect the vast majority of students *and* faculty support what will be a great asset to SMU.

Publius, at 6:25 am EST on December 18, 2006

Publius

In a quaint comment, Publicus argues that “the vast majority of students *and* faculty support” the Bush Library being established and built at Southern Bush University in Dallas. When did this no-name (ashamed of his or her real identity?) take this poll, and what is the error of margin.

Having been a part of the (then) SMU team (Bridwell Library), I doubt his or her judgment, and find it patently offensive for the Board to consider such a affront to justice given the Bush record of encouraging, endorsing, and excusing human rights violant (torture, mass murder, rape, as well as assaults on gays and lesbians), the ill-humor and disrespect of academe and low priority on reading and books, his continuing, unabatted lies and deceptions, and his initiating a civil war in Iraq to “undo” the Ronald Reagan appointed and Donald Rumsfeld enstalled dictator Saddam Hussein. The Bush II Administration is as much a failure as the Bush I—and embarrassingly both came from Texas. I can’t find one positive thing that either of the Bush demigogues did for the middle class or poor, as even the infamous tax cut only helped the upperclass, and both Bush Administrations were determined to create a caste society in the USA.

Arthur Ide, at 7:20 am EST on December 18, 2006

Thanks, Publius! I will be delighted to judge for myself. Here I go:

Yeah!

Having rendered my judgement, I note in passing the proclivity of no-goodniks to blame everyone and everything for criticism of the no-goodniks’ own predations, other than their own actions. Anger at erosion of habeas corpus, war that kills tens of thousands on false premises, etc., etc., is swiftly dubbed “partisan politics,” as if that explains everything and criticism can thereby be summarily dismissed.

Oh, well. As Judge Judy says, you can’t cure stupid.

marya, at 7:55 am EST on December 18, 2006

Shame, Shame!

Truthfully, I’m ashamed to be in the same room with the Maureen Down look-a-likes who are responding to this article.

Thus far (in only five letters) they have accused poor “W” of ...

having an ill-humor

being a demigod

starting and continuing an unprovoked war against the people of Iraq

bombing and killing thousands (a Johns Hopkins report says as many as 600,000) innocent Iraqis (remember the wonders of “Shock and Awe? ... I know I was in awe)

encouraging, endorsing, and excusing torture, mass murder, and rape

inspiring assaults on gays and lesbians

dissing education

helping the upper class at the expense of the middle class (I guess the lower class doesn’t matter)

attacking our personal freedoms (wire tapping and suspending habeas corpus)

unabated lies and deceptions

creating a caste society in the United States

being from Texas

One commenter even accused his mother of stealing money from Katrina victims to help out her nere-do-well son, Neil, and get a tax write-off in the bargain.

Well, I’m here to tell you I’m supporting SMU’s lobbying to be home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, and I hope they build it right there where those ugly condos were just taking up space. And my rationale is for a reason none of you lefties mentioned.

Whether you’re a liberal – and most of you seem to be – or a conservative like I, you couldn’t possibly doubt that George W. Bush will be remembered as one of the three worst presidents in the history of the Republic. That being the case, there are literally millions – I can already identify 59,729,986 — of us evangelical-leaning Christians eagerly awaiting an opportunity to make an annual pilgrimage to SMU to pay homage to “the man.”

The Presidential Library will be to Dallas what Graceland has been to Memphis ... and that means dollars in the bank. I’m already making my reservations for 2012, and while I’m there I hope to worship at one of the ubiquitous mega-churches right there in “Big D.”

RWH, at 10:30 am EST on December 18, 2006

W’s Library

Susanne Johnson’s quotes are so insincere. A quick Yahoo search turns up her Smirking Chimp blog where, among other things, she allows an ad for President *uckface to advertise on her site. This is certainly an attempt to embarrass the President. Perhaps she should spend more time encouraging her students to study the life of Christ while she turns her other cheek.

Kingfish, Dr., at 11:00 am EST on December 18, 2006

Honest Hysteria

The critics who have posted here are at least honest in venting their anti-Bush hysteria. I’m afraid that the same cannot be said about Professor Johnson. Her attempt to frame the issue as one of “academic integity” seems disingenuous at best.

Here’s hoping SMU’s administration and trustees serve the interests of students, faculty, and alumni by giving this campaign by the angry left the little attention it deserves.

Publius, at 12:55 pm EST on December 18, 2006

Bush Library

Being a gay man, also a Methodist, went to San Francisco State, and voted againsnt GWB 2x, a couple of comments. Stanford Univ. has enhanced it’s image wordwide with the Hoover Inst. Hoover was not a very good President. It is my feeling that SMU should do whatever it can to get the library. This will reap many rewards for SMU down the road. The library will be an asset for SMU. It’s a library, not a politacal endorsement.

Daniel Flatten, at 12:55 pm EST on December 18, 2006

Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes

How ironic (hypocritical?) that a Bush supporter would choose the alias Publius. Wasn’t it Publius (Valerius Publicola) who issued a law saying that any man who tried to make himself a king could be killed by any Roman?

Anyway, it’s apparent from the responses here that the rumors of academe having been taken over by the left are false.

As for the majority of students and faculty supporting the library, I can only say that the majority of SMU students couldn’t find a book in a library if their trust funds depended on it, so their views of the Bush library should be taken with a (rather huge) grain of salt. And, well, the majority of my colleagues are, at best, conflicted over the library. On the one hand, they consider the possibility of a presidential library to be exciting. On the other, they wish it were anyone’s but W’s.

ridemponies, at 2:40 pm EST on December 18, 2006

I propose that, in the spirit of bipartisanship, that SMU accept the Bush Presidential Library, with the stipulation that the edifice be inscribed with the important and memorable quotes from the Great Man himself — like the Lincoln Memorial or the Jefferson Memorial or the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. But above and beyond all political quotations, all Bush-isms, all malapropisms and mangled language and deliberate lies to deceive the electorate, we must foreground President George W. Bush’s words on higher education. We must do this because it IS an institution of higher education. And the library is the ultimate symbol of the achievement of knowledge in the university.

So I propose that we take these words from Bush’s commencement address to the 2001 graduates of Yale University. For it truly is the handing of the flame of knowledge from one august institution to one with a slightly less glossy reputation.

First and foremost, above the door, shall be placed in an arc:

“And to the C students–I say, you, too, can be President of the United States.”

Upon the exterior walls, in bronze plate, are esteemed quotes such as:

“My critics don’t realize I don’t make verbal gaffes. I’m speaking in the perfect forms and rhythms of ancient Haiku.”

“As a student, I tried to keep a low profile. It worked.”

These shall be combined with other quotations:

“Anybody who is in a position to serve this country ought to understand the consequences of words.” —George W. Bush, interview with Rush Limbaugh, Nov. 1, 2006

“I think — tide turning — see, as I remember — I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of — it’s easy to see a tide turn — did I say those words?” —George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

“You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” —George W. Bush, interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006

As it will be palpably evident that Bush is the most preposterous figure ever to found a library, at least one good will come out of this man (who has done a great deal toward destroying this country) — students will be inspired by his oratorical blunderings, his lies, his utter ineptitude. And they will say: “Yes, I shall study hard. I shall speak clearly. I shall do good things and do them well, I shall not lie, I shall not cheat, I will rise by my own skills because to do anything other would be to be like George W. Bush. And never again will we have another George W. Bush. He will be inspiration to us all, to be better people, smarter people, more informed people, more truthful people.”

The George W. Bush Presidential Library will be a light for us all.

Dignam, at 3:45 pm EST on December 18, 2006

How interesting a discussion. What little connection to reality. (1) The Bush Administration has not condoned torture, rape, nor any of the other crimes against humanity alleged. In fact, those who have committed or are alleged to have committed such crimes find themselves being prosecuted by the Bush Administration. (2) The unfortunate student with the weak stomach who fears vomiting everytime (s)he would enter the library should realize that the Bush Presidential Library would not be the university library. There is no reason for that student to ever enter the Presidential Library unless they are doing specific research into the Bush Presidency. (3) The SMU faculty opposed to the library might even want to discuss academic freedom some day, and be shocked to find out that it means that there are points of view other than their own that merit investigation and publication.

Michael, at 4:05 pm EST on December 18, 2006

Missing the point

With all due respect, you’ve all missed the point. Sure, Bush is truly one of the three worst presidents in our nation’s history. I’d even go to one of the TWO worst. He’s bad for all the reasons mentioned, and worse.

BUT: The issue isn’t his badness. In fact, his badness makes the case for hosting the library even stronger. Wouldn’t you want access to all the papers of such a despicable man, and the correspondence to his despicable cabinet? The issue is whether the library comes with a bevy of scholars whose charge is to make the man look good, whatever the evidence. That’s not consistent with a university’s mission, and that’s good reason to avoid the library. Ditch the sycophants, take the library, and start in on the most pathetic presidency we’re likely to see in our lifetimes.

BP, at 5:35 am EST on December 19, 2006

Sore losers?

Final thought for the IHED coalition of the wild eyed:

In 2004, George W. Bush received 62,028,285 votes— the most in American history, 3 million more than his opponent, 14.6 million more than Bill Clinton in 1996, 7.5 million more than Ronald Reagan in 1984.

I anxiously await responses to these cold hard facts. Will it be to attack the 62 million as duped or benighted? Or will it be to trot out the Diebold voting machine conspiracy? Or, for the tin foil hat brigade, will it be to blame it on a 9/11 conspiracy?

Publius, at 8:55 am EST on December 19, 2006

NOT EVERYONE IN THE WACO AREA WANTS IT

SMU can have it. Take it, please! Baylor and Waco are the ones wanting the library. We in rural Mclennan county have had our lives disturbed since he got in office. Many, like me, voted for him and stuck with him for the first term. Now he continues to get worse and we are tired of him.

Baylor takes land off the tax rolls in hopes of getting the library. The rest of us only get higher taxes. Maybe we could get a presidential rest stop with a toilet on the interstate. Thast the only reason anyone stops here anyway.

Baylor and Waco are the ones wanting him

RWS, at 9:30 am EST on December 19, 2006

From An SMU Grad

As a graduate of SMU, I must say that the person who posted and suggested that this letter does not represent the views of the SMU faculty and students is at least half wrong. While it has been a few years since I was on the hilltop, I must say that I found the faculty to be quite diverse and found very few to be hard core right wingers who might fit with the stereotype that all to often accompanies the mention of SMU.

As for the students, well, I guess stereotypes have to come from somewhere. But like many stereotypes, while there may be grains of truth than form their basis, they often to more injustice to their subject that justice. At least in the humanities and social sciences — I was a double major in political science and economics with a minor in philosophy — there were significant numbers of students from wealthy backgrounds, but they were not uniformly, nor even necessarily even majority conservative. The business school might be different, students in the areas where I studies were from all walks of life and of all political stripes.

But frankly, I doubt very few conservatives even want their university to be associated with such a buffoon. His abandonment of conservative causes should infuriate them almost as much as his high handed disregard of the Constitution infuriates progressives. I would have no objection to a library. However, an ideologically driven think tank is another matter. Particularly when the entire thrust of the presidency in question is so at war with the progressive message of the religious affiliation of the university in question. Baylor is a Baptist university and Baptists, at least in their modern configuration, are a conservative lot. But the religion of John Wesley — and I am a practicing Methodist, too — is supposed to be a religion of love, humility, inclusion, and service to those less fortunate than we. None of this in anyway consistent with the presidency of George Bush.

MIke M, at 5:41 pm EST on December 19, 2006

Bush vs. Hoover

This is so late that it will seem out of context, but D. Flatten’s citing of Herbert Hoover seems off to me. Hoover, despite being a not very successful president (though this could be disputed — while often blamed for the Depression, his policies may have ultimately helped) was very successful both as an engineer and as a humanitarian (helping to mitigate the post-WWI famines in Europe) in his earlier career. GWB came into the presidency with a record of public and private failure, which history may well note that he continued.

JW Beekman, at 8:25 pm EST on December 26, 2006

Stereotyping abounds

I’m an SMU alumnus who came from a middle class family. My parents made many sacrifices, which I greatly appreciate, for me to attend. My experience there included meeting a diverse faculty and student body, and receiving an extraordinary and broad education in and out of the classroom. Today, 70% of those “wealthy students” so popularly associated with SMU receive financial aid. Well over 20% are ethnic minorities. They come from all 50 states, and over 90 foreign countries. Less than 23% of them are Methodists, and there are more Catholics on campus than Methodists. When the school was founded, the representatives of the Methodist church involved in structuring the University’s governance expressed the desire that SMU find its way not to be a great Methodist University, but instead, a great University. The purpose of the library is not to endorse the politics or policies of the Bush presidency nor to serve conservatism or a particular religious view, but instead to provide a vehicle for this and future generations to study it.

SMU alumnus, at 8:31 pm EST on January 18, 2007

Would Jesus even walk inside a building dedicated to a man who has killed 497,000 iraqis in an un-necessary war?

Methodists are cut from a different type of stone than the extremist evangelical protestants that we see on TV news who proclaim that war is peace, ignorance is strength, and freedom is slavery.

SMU will be permanently scarred as a college for having one of the worst presidents (if not the worst president in history) put a rightwing think tank funded by Saudi Arabia and wealthy Neocons on their campus.

Steve Savage, at 2:50 pm EDT on April 25, 2007