WWW.PRESIDENTS"R"US.COM

Dallas Deficit

The Dallas Morning News has covered the would-be rise of the George W. Bush Library at SMU in lavish detail, but has so far found itself unable to pass on to local readers allegations about Houston fixer Steve Payne and his offer to clean up a Central Asian ex-tyrant’s image via Bush Library donations, in secret if “he wants to be anonymous for some reason”

The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune stirred themselves to follow up on London Sunday Times and. Even Fox News and Moonie owned UPI reported the allegations.

Zoned Out?

Time to dust off those crumpled copies of the Constitution every old coot pol seems to carry in their pocket for all occasions, and read up.

Specifically, Article II and the 14th Amendment, the portions demanding that presidents be a “natural born citizen” and the mid 19th Century amendment, which may or may not have clarified this.

Infant Alien

A law prof has a new analysis on what this all means to Panama Canal Zone born John McCain. Gabriel J. Chin says Congress’s many attempts to change the status of Zonians since the 1930s can’t overcome the plain language of the Constitution.

“It’s preposterous that a technicality like this can make a difference in an advanced democracy …But this is the constitutional text that we have.”

This would leave McCain out of luck if anyone bothered to pay attention to The Founders except as it benefits grits.

Another reason to ignore the 14th Amendment: It’s a Commie Plot anyway.

Innocent Abroad

So?

His response wasn’t quite that Cheneyesque, but would-be George W. Bush Library benefactor Steve Payne concedes nothing. He claims remarks are taken out of context, says his request of confidentiality was violated, and tells some more whoppers.

“I have been a victim of a confidence game sponsored by the paper. The paper and its employees, not content with merely reporting news, have instead opted to manufacture the news in this worst-case example of “Gotcha Journalism”.”

Payne’s statement claims that hidden donations to the Bush Library were the furthest thing from his mind, and that he expected the worthy gentlemen with whom he was dealing to be above board in thought and deed.

“I was also very clear… in this conversation and in subsequent e-mails that any donations would need to be completely transparent and open to public scrutiny.”

The transparency extends to a Payne email dump which accompanied his statement., in which he suggests the Library cash could be hidden:

“The donation will be done publicly and must be in the form of a check or wire and will be done publicly in Akayev’s name unless he wants to be anonymous for some reason?”

Aiming High

The Times of London has a Bush Pioneer on tape offering access to administration officials, possibly including Bush, for a fee of $600,000 to $750,000, a third of which would be directed to the Bush Library.

Lobbyist Stephen Payne says it can be done.

“The exact budget I will come up with, but it will be somewhere between $600,000 and $750,000, with about a third of it going directly to the Bush library”

The paper approached Payne pretending to represent former Kyrgyzstan strongman Askar Akayev, ousted in a 2005 popular revolt. Akayev is hanging about Moscow these days, and The Times claimed he longed to return to power. The laying on of hands in Washington was to be the anointment

Akayev, Shown Here In Happier Times

How does Stephen Payne work his wonders for democracy?

The Times has Payne in a remarkable string of photos with such luminaries as Rice, Cheney, Putin, Musharraf and more, best in show being Payne and Bush clearing brush together in Crawford.

Freedom’s Undergrowths

Telling Tales

Having done his part to continue the Clinton era celebration of Harry Truman’s muscular liberalism, Peter Beinart is casting his eyes back further, to the glories of Wilsonian foreign policy.

It’s somehow to be different from George W. Bush Wilsonism.

Beinart presents a highly selective version of Wilson, what he might call “coherent.” It’s heavy on Wilson’s doomed world vision for after that messy war he joined. Wilson without tears – no unhappy interventions in Russia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua [inherited], no teaching the Mexicans to elect good men.

It’s gonna be great.

“McCain’s singular focus may be more easily grasped; Obama’s broader catalogue could end up sounding less like a vision than a list. Collective security offers a way of linking these disparate concerns and telling a coherent story about today’s problems and how to solve them…In 1916, Woodrow Wilson talked of “a common order, a common justice and a common peace.” In the 2007 Foreign Affairs article in which he set out his foreign policy views, Barack Obama wrote about “common threats,” “common security,” and a “common humanity.” America’s fate and the world’s fate, both men were trying to say, are ultimately indivisible. We rise together or fall together. Never has the world so badly needed to hear these words from an American president, and never have the American people been so prepared to embrace them. Wilson’s dream has been too long deferred. The time to revive it is now.”