Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner?

By Dan Eggen
Monday, April 14, 2008

The historic visit to Washington this week by Pope Benedict XVI is a big event for millions of Americans, including President Bush and first lady Laura Bush.

The first couple will greet the pontiff as he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday afternoon, followed by a ceremony and private meeting at the White House the next day. Then comes a final event Wednesday night in the East Room, when the Bushes will host a dinner in honor of His Holiness.

Only one thing will be missing: the pope.

"I'm sorry, the pope doesn't attend a dinner in his honor?" one reporter asked White House spokesman Scott Stanzel during a briefing last week.

"No," Stanzel replied.

"How does that work?"

"He doesn't come into the building."

"But then it's not a dinner for the pope, is it?"

"It's in honor of his visit," Stanzel explained. "There will be leaders from the Catholic community from all over the country who are in town for that visit."

White House aides attribute the pontiff's absence from the dinner to a busy schedule during his first visit to the United States. Wednesday also happens to be Pope Benedict's 81st birthday.

His scheduled events include a visit to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast on Wednesday afternoon, Mass at Nationals Park on Thursday morning and a visit to Catholic University that afternoon. The pope is to fly to New York on Friday morning; Vice Presi dent Cheney will fly north next weekend to bid the pontiff farewell.

Benedict will be only the second pope to visit the White House. Pope John Paul II was hosted by President Jimmy Carter in October 1979.

The Wedding Planners?

Speaking of big events, preparations are in high gear for the May 10 wedding at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Tex., of Jenna Bush and Henry Hager.

But the Bush family and the White House have been tightlipped about the details, including whether a visit to the ranch this weekend by the president and first lady had any connection to nuptials planning.

Stanzel, during a Friday briefing in Crawford, said that "they may be making preparations for that," but wouldn't go into details.

"I know the president today was planning on clearing some brush and doing some things that he often does when he's here, and maybe the brush- clearing has something to do with those plans," Stanzel said, drawing laughter from the small corps of reporters.

As it happened, a good portion of the Bush family was in town, including former president George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba. All attended a $3.5 million GOP fundraiser Friday evening at the neighboring Broken Spoke Ranch.

But Sally McDonough, Laura Bush's press secretary, noted that Jenna was not in Crawford over the weekend, and that "her uncle and aunt are not intimately involved in the wedding planning."

Whoever's planning things, it doesn't appear to be President Bush. "I have nothing to say about it," Bush joked during a February television interview, adding: "They're letting me spend money."

'Fired Up' at the West Wing

Like most press secretaries, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino spends much of her time trying to comment coolly and calmly on the news of the day.

But Perino appeared to be angry last Wednesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would move to block a vote on the Colombia free trade agreement, which Bush submitted to Congress earlier in the week.

Perino said it was an "awful precedent," that the administration had worked "tirelessly" to meet Democratic demands, and that "any sense of good faith in our process of negotiating trade has evaporated." She accused Pelosi of avoiding a vote for fear of losing, and alleged that Democrats are bowing to unions and other "special interests" in opposing the deal.

"You sound a little angry," a reporter said. "Is the White House angry?"

"I think we're pretty fired up about it," Perino said.

Pelosi and House Democrats followed through with their threat on Thursday, voting 224 to 195 to delay consideration of the Colombia pact. The vote will probably end any chance of a decision on the agreement during the remainder of Bush's term.

The Naked Truth About the Vice President

Online blogs and gossip sites were aflutter late last week with speculation that -- gasp! -- a photograph of Cheney released by the White House appeared to show a naked figure, perhaps a woman, reflected in his sunglasses.

Generally, of course, it must be true if it's on the Internet. But alas, not in this case.

The White House -- using top-secret technology available to, well, anyone -- released a blown-up version of the offending reflection, showing it to be a decidedly unsexy vice presidential arm holding a fishing pole.

From Bush, More Personal History

President Bush last week talked about his past drinking problems during a signing ceremony for legislation to provide assistance to ex-convicts. The remarks marked the third time in several months that Bush has made reference to a drinking problem as a young man.

During a visit to a church-run prisoner assistance program in Baltimore on Jan. 29, Bush said "addiction is hard to overcome."

"As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life," Bush said during that visit. "I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem."

Bush has talked over the years about his struggles with alcohol before he quit in 1986, when he woke up with a hangover from celebrating his 40th birthday.

Lovin' Lieberman

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) is no longer a Democrat, and he keeps getting praise from such Republicans as Cheney and presumptive party presidential nominee John McCain (Ariz.).

Now comes word that Lieberman's wife, Hadassah, was named by Bush last week to be a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

Quote of the Week

"Look, you can't have the commander in chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing either 'It's not worth it' or 'You're losing.' I mean, what does that do for morale? . . . And if you look at my remarks, they were balanced. They weren't Pollyannaish."

-- President Bush, in an interview with ABC News, defending his upbeat statements about Iraq in 2006 when he privately thought that "it was failing."