USTIN, Texas - George W. Bush flew home yesterday with a promise to stay quiet during the Democratic National Convention. Ending a three-day campaign swing through the West, Bush seemed eager for the break, which he will treat as a vacation at his Crawford ranch.
''I'm just going to hang out with my wife,'' Bush said. ''Maybe chop a little cedar, maybe fish. ... Some friends are coming over. We may play some cards.''
Insisting he did not plan to watch his rivals on television, Bush said he was resigned to the inevitable barbs that will be thrown.
''I already know what they're going to say about me,'' he said. ''They've been saying it for the past six months. It's predictable.''
Bush made the remarks atop a scenic overlook near the Arizona ranch of former rival Senator John McCain, who campaigned with the governor of Texas for three days before hosting the Bushes at his property Saturday night.
Reiner, a liberal, shocks with his presidential picks
CLEVELAND - Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner is well known for his support of liberal issues and candidates. But whom does he name as the three men ''most qualified'' to be president in recent history?
Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Al Gore.
''It's not how good they did the job,'' Reiner said, backtracking a bit, but rather the experience the men had when they took office.
''Whatever you want to think about Richard ... but seriously, seriously, think about this,'' Reiner said, waving his arms to calm hoots of laughter during his discussion after a campaign appearance with Gore. ''And don't print just that part'' about Nixon, he pleaded.
Too late.
Cher makes confession, sings apology to Clinton
LOS ANGELES - In Tinseltown, being a star means never having to say you're sorry.
But at a Hollywood tribute to President Clinton at the Brentwood estate of radio mogul Ken Roberts, Cher did just that.
''I have a confession to make,'' Cher told Clinton. ''Sir, I didn't vote for you. But if you were running again, which I wish you were, I would vote for you.'' Then, as an expression of her ''little lament,'' she dedicated a song to him titled, ''If I Could Turn Back Time.''
Revelation by Etheridge moves president to tears
Singer Melissa Etheridge brought Clinton to tears during her tribute when she told the president she came out of the closet after his first inauguration in 1993. ''You and I will forever be linked historically, because it was after your first inauguration that I decided to come out publicly,'' she said. ''I just want to say thank you, so very much, for inviting us into the house and to the table, and we'll never, ever have to go back into the closet again.''
