It was late 2006, and President George H.W. Bush was helping the tiny town of Cameron, Louisiana, recover after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita a year earlier.
He had cobbled together $2 million to deliver during a visit but wanted something more “exciting and with attitude.”
According to aide Jean Becker, author of The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush’s Post-Presidency, he told of a TV show he was watching and wanted to invite the star.
“He says, ‘Jean, Bar and I have fallen in love with this show … We watch it every night. It’s called ER,” Becker told a conference this week hosted by the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. “It stars this great young actor, George Clooney,” he said, adding that he wanted him to join in the visit.
Clooney had left the show seven years earlier.
“I tried to explain to him the concept of reruns,” she said. “This show isn’t on TV anymore.”
Bush didn’t understand and said, “Every night. It’s on every night, Jean.”
Clooney famously joined Bush and told the town, “There is good news in all of this, which is that when the hospital gets up and running, I will not be doing any of the medical procedures.”
- The National Wreaths Across America Day has been set for Dec. 18, when 2 million wreaths will be placed on the graves of veterans.
- The Fourth Brew Across America Congressional Brewing Competition takes place in Washington this week, with five bipartisan congressional teams vying for the Brew Democracy Cup. Each group teams with their local Anheuser-Busch brewery to make a beer, and this year features a “cider donut ale” recipe from Sens. Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen. Anheuser-Busch said its competition is part of a “broader Brew Democracy initiative to promote democracy by providing opportunities for those from differing political backgrounds to come together over a beer.”
