George W. Bush slept here

Hey, I remember that guy. I really don't get the conservative need to venerate George W. Bush even though none of them would be caught dead with the guy, now that "true conservatism" considers him just another apostate, and an embarrassing one at that. At least when Republicans were bent out of shape that one of Ronald Reagan's once-homes was going to be torn down, it was on behalf of Ronald Effing Reagan, patron saint of all that is good and holy and super-duper-conservative and the only modern Republican president Republicans will still admit to. Dubya doesn't have that, but I guess Texas needs to stake their presidentin' claim so here comes Bush Gardens!

A Texas congressman is behind efforts to turn former President George W. Bush's boyhood home into a national park.

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, a Republican calling for cuts to wasteful spending, successfully requested a 'reconnaissance survey' of the 1,400-square-foot home in Midland.

The survey, price tag as much as $25,000, is a first step in making the 1950s Bush family home at 1412 W. Ohio Ave. into a unit of the National Park Service.

Bush the Younger lived in the house for four years as a very young child; $25,000 will give an initial feel for whether 1412 W. Ohio Ave has the stuff of National Park material. Does it have any of the someday-president's crayon scribblings still on the walls? Is there room for a dignified ferris wheel (sorry, Freedom Wheel), or a My Pet Goat petting zoo? There's nothing to suggest that the four years spent at this particular house were particularly formative, but the point seems to be one of Midland pride, and there's an actual private organization dedicated to preserving the home so I'm sure they'll pick up the tab if we ask them nicely.

Still, George W. Bush hated national parks. If you really want to honor the guy, make his childhood home a national park, then tear it down and drill for oil there. That'd be a much more appropriate homage than just putting up a plaque.