Huckleberries: Bush library would be good fit for Idaho

It’s time for all good, red-blooded Idahoans to come to the aid of their president – at least those who also vote straight-ticket red. Seems Dubya’s encountered flak in his attempt to locate his future presidential library at Southern Methodist University/Dallas, Texas. Fourteen United Methodist bishops have signed a petition objecting, according to Frank Lockwood, an ex-Idaho reporter who’s now religion editor and a blogger for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The 14 anti-war killjoys are messing with the former Texas governor by deeming it “inappropriate” for Bush’s museum/think tank to be associated with the Methodist name. In Bible Belt Blogger ( www.biblebeltblogger.com), Lockwood notes that two-term Republican presidents often face opposition when they pick a college campus for their libraries: “Duke rejected Nixon. Stanford didn’t want Reagan.” So, Lockwood offers a better idea: Why not put the future library at Brigham Young University/Idaho (formerly Ricks College) in Rexburg, Idaho? After all, sez Lockwood, there are no Methodists to speak of in that most Republican of Mormon Country (91.9 percent for Dubya in 2004). Argues he: “Some folks will grumble that Rexburg is in a flyover state, in the middle of nowhere. But it’s only miles from Jackson Hole, Wyo., and a hop, skip and a jump from Yellowstone National Park. Plus, it’s in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Johnson beat Goldwater.” And a state that has more recovered wolves than Democrats. When do we break ground?