Bush Library Rewrite Website Presents Democratic Version Of President's Legacy

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened May 1 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas after much anticipation. The $250 million library brought together all living presidents for a dedication ceremony on April 25, where they showered praise on the 43rd president of the United States.

But according to the Democratic nonprofit group Bridge Project, which focuses on "exposing the conservative movement's dishonest tactics," the library's version of the Bush legacy suffers from selective memory loss. Bridge Project thus created a library of its own Thursday, in the form of a website BushRewrite.org, which the group said will "rectify the falsehoods and omissions of the Bush library."

The timing coincides with the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a low point of Bush's two-term presidency. The Bush library has already been accused of glossing over Katrina, which killed 1,833 people and destroyed an estimated $81 billion in property. The library overlooks the Bush administration's delayed reaction and includes no pictures of the desperate crowds at the at the Louisiana Superdome or the New Orleans Morial Convention Center -- images that quickly spurred suggestions that race was a factor in the muted federal response.

The halls of the Bush library ignore other disturbing facts, the Bush Rewrite states on the website, which The Huffington Post viewed before it went live. "The Bush White House was plagued by a series of scandals and controversies" and "policy failures," the website says. It contains pages with what Bridge Project calls a "stark reminder" of Bush's true legacy, ranging from the economy, which revisits events preceeding the 2008 financial collapse, to war and national security, which highlights the Bush administration's torture and rendition programs. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/29/bush-library-rewrite_n_3833623.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037