Foreign donations suspended, Bush library says

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Faced Monday with a report that a rogue lobbyist urged an exiled Central Asian leader to support the Bush library to curry favor in Washington, library officials promised that no foreign money will be accepted until President Bush leaves office. On Tuesday, it became clear the public will have to take them at their word.

The foundation isn't promising to identify all donors, or the dates and sums of their gifts.

Anxieties were heightened by a story this weekend by the Sunday Times of London about Stephen Payne. The Houston-based lobbyist with ties to the Bush administration engaged in a hidden-camera conversation with two men posing as agents of Kyrgyzstan's former president, who supposedly wanted meetings with top U.S. officials.

"I think that the family, children, whatever, should probably look at making a contribution to the Bush library," Mr. Payne told the men at a posh London hotel. "It would be like, maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars ... enough to show that they're serious."

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-bushlibrary_16nat.ART.State.Edition1.4d52a15.html

[tridim]

1. Cancel the gawd damned library.

Honestly, what's the point?

[babylonsister]

2. And only because they got busted. nt

[opihimoimoi]

3. Bush trying to make himself look good dives for the last hope...a Prezinenshul Library..and the man

don't even read...how ironic....

all them words he spouts off at pressers, etc....are words from his staff he has to memorize...the sound bites are well thought out...its Bushies, and now McSames, ability to articulate those sound bites correctly..and they don't

they fuck up simplicity so much.......how in the world can we expect them to deal with complexity?

[ellenfl]

4. wow! how many copies of 'my pet goat' would $200,000 buy! eom

[HomerRamone]

8. I think everyone should send them a copy n/t

[TheDebbieDee]

5. "Foreign donations suspended" And we would believe this

because.......why would we believe this?

[Judi Lynn]

6. More on the lobbyist: "Stephen Payne Worked For Pakistan After Sept. 11"

Stephen Payne Worked For Pakistan After Sept. 11
By Andrew Tilghman - July 15, 2008, 12:00PM



It was just one month after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

U.S. forces were poised to invade Afghanistan in just a few weeks.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan was getting a lot of pressure from the White House to cooperate with the newly declared War on Terror. And he wanted a few favors in return.

Who did the Musharraf government turn to to help navigate relations with the U.S.?

A few Houston-based Republicans, including Stephen Payne, who was recently caught on video telling a politician from Kazakistan he could arrange meetings with high-ranking Bush administrations officials in exchange for a large donation to Bush's presidential library fund.

Payne was one of several Bush supporters who made up a firm known as Team Eagle, which signed a $180,000-a-year contract with the Pakistani government on Oct. 13, 2001, according to a government database maintained under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The firm was also known as Team Barakat, according to FARA documents.

Payne was partners in the firm with Gary Polland, the head of the Harris County Republican Party, according to a January 14, 2002, report in the Houston Chronicle, which we found in the Nexis database.

More:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/steven_payne_worked_for_pakist.php

[Javaman]

7. And outhouse, a bottle jack and my pet goat.

is that all a couple of hundred thousand buys these days???

:rofl:

[rocktivity]

9. I am shocked--SHOCKED!

Between his popularity and the surplus discretionary income his economic policies have produced, you would think he could easily subsist on domestic donations alone...

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[global1]

10. Whadda Ya Expect - Afterall It Is A LIEbrary.......nt

[gratuitous]

11. What if it was a Democrat doing this?

The howls would be long, sustained and constant: How can we be sure that there is no taint of furrin money building this private library? The news shows would all pick it up, Matt Lauer would put on his best concern frown to tell us what sort of danger this posed to everyone in America. Tweety would bloviate on about it for hours, as would Billo, Rash, Mourning Joe, and the rest of the crew. And it would keep up until the Democratic politician in question disclosed every last donor by name, address, phone number, date of donation and amount.

Bush just says, "Whoopsie, well, we're not doing this anymore." And the whole thing goes away. No donor lists, no proof, no nothing. And the whole appearance of bribery and pay-to-play? Gone like a fart in a frying pan.

[defendandprotect]

12. Problem solved . . . issue gone . . ???

[PSPS]

13. Does Germany have an "Adolph Hitler Library?"