Ugh.

President Bush plans to attend next week's dedication of the state's new Abraham Lincoln museum.

The White House announced Friday that Bush will tour the museum and make remarks at the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Richard Norton Smith, director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, said Bush's presence confirms its status as "a project of national scope."

"He is a Lincoln fan. I know that for a fact," Smith added. "I think it's something that has really grown on him during his presidency. I think a lot of presidents sooner or later find themselves turning to Lincoln and identifying with Lincoln."

Bush and his wife also may want to see the facility to get ideas for a Bush library after the president leaves office, Smith said.

The Bush II library could be housed in a broom closet. This White House is the most secretive in history, and Bush Jr. has already made sure that his papers from his Texas governorship were spirited away and hidden in his daddy's library where they're held in total secrecy. He also made a special effort early in his first term to amend laws governing presidential papers in such a way as to ensure that almost none would be available to scholars and historians. The way he changed the law, a former president can simply object to any of their papers being released, and, in a new twist designed to allow Jr. to sheild his Dad and cronies, he also added the provision that CURRENT presidents can object to any former president's papers being released, even if the former president has no objection! So, say, if Clinton wanted to release documents, Bush Jr. could object and no one would would be able to access them.

Aside from Mao-like glowing larger-than-life portraits and other attempts to deify this clown, there would be little else in a Bush Jr. library. Certainly nothing of interest to presidential scholars. This administration is determined that no records of their often shameless actions will ever see the light of day, whether 20 years from now, or 200.

And of course,Bush has no business stepping foot anywhere near anything to do with Lincoln. But it's no surprise that in his megalomania, he couldn't resist a chance to appear in Springfield and try to have some Lincoln aura rub off on him. I'm sure in Bush's mind, he regards himself as every bit the historical equal to Lincoln.