:puke: Propaganda, anyone?
The Bush Restoration Project
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro is on a mission to rehabilitate the former president's reputation.
By Jordan Michael Smith
Posted Wednesday, April 21, 2010, at 3:01 PM ET
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro talks about George W. Bush the way Buddhists talk about the Dalai Lama. "He stands for truth, compassion and freedom," he says. "Bush instinctively sees the global picture that every living person has the right to be free." It's hardly surprising, then, that Shapiro founded Honor Freedom, an organization devoted to restoring Bush's reputation. And Shapiro may actually succeed—especially since Bush, too, will be working on the same project, if not the same organization.
On its Web site, Honor Freedom proclaims its three-part mission: "UNITE BUSH SUPPORTERS by building a national network" of supporters; "CORRECT THE HISTORICAL RECORD by dispelling fallacies about President Bush"; and "TEACH AMERICA the truth about the Bush foreign policy doctrine" (all capitalization in original). Through a nationwide public education program consisting of op-eds, media appearances, and free public seminars, the nonprofit group intends to teach Americans that George W. Bush was actually a great president and an even better man.Honor Freedom is independent of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which consists of the official Bush library and foundation. It has no ties to Bush, and a spokeswoman at the foundation says she's never heard of Shapiro's group. Presidential libraries and related foundations may serve to burnish their namesakes' reputations, but they are "not as crass or overt as this," says H.W. Brands, who has written biographies of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR.
Shapiro, for his part, has written that "relying on a passive institute such as a presidential library and waiting for people to learn the truth on their own will not be sufficient in this unique case." Having launched his project in January on Strategy Room, Fox News' online show, Shapiro has yet to focus on fundraising. But he has organizers in eight states—and a representative in Australia!—and has recruited Andrew Breitbart as communications director and Bush's former deputy assistant Brad Blakeman as "chief adviser."
more...
http://www.slate.com/id/2251517/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
