Book him, Dan-o

In less than two weeks -- on May 1 -- the long-awaited George W. Bush Presidential Library will open in Dallas.  What has been most awaited, no doubt, at least by me, is finding out whether the library will carry My Pet Goat in its stacks. 

The library raised an astounding $500 million for itself.  Who knew that whitewash cost that much.  It's amazing, too, to discover how much people will pay to salve a guilty conscious.  Then again, if his admirers really wanted to honor George Bush, they could have used that $500 million to help pay down the massive $482 billion budget deficit he left the country, after having inherited a $128 billion surplus from Bill Clinton.

For what it's worth, apparently absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder.  In a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll this month, Mr. Bush still holds a very low opinion from the public.  Only 35% have a "Very or somewhat positive" opinion of the former president, while 44% have a "Very or somewhat negative" view.  Interestingly, this is pretty close to the public opinion toward Mr. Bush when he left office in January, 2008.  Then, it was 32-47%.  So, the two periods are well-within the margin of error of 3.1%.

I look forward to Sarah Palin (R-AL-!/2) making another of her speeches foolishly asking the audience about George Bush, "Do you miss me now?"  Not only is the answer, "No," it's the exact same "no," as when he was day-fresh in our minds.