First Lady Barbara Bush certainly has one domestic concern well in hand:
the Bush family summer house in Kennebunkport, Maine, which got so thoroughly trashed by the big nor`easter last October. The storm cost the president his famous ”cigarette boat” and wrecked the interior of the 26-room house. ”All the books washed out to sea,” Mrs. Bush lamented.
She`s been acquiring books from stores and friends, and for the last several weeks has been buying new furniture. ”That`s all done now,” she proclaimed at a White House dinner for the nation`s governors last week.
Mrs. Bush has begun putting things back in place. She said she`s glad for the opportunity to campaign for her husband in New Hampshire this month because, ”I can stay at Kennebunkport,” a short drive from the New Hampshire line.
No word on replacing Bush`s boat, unless you count White House Chief of Staff Sam Skinner`s suggestion on network television the other morning that the federal government suspend its new luxury tax on expensive boats.
Mrs. Bush isn`t going to fill that Kennebunkport library with just anything. She happily reported that she`s read Sally Quinn`s new Washington novel about a president who gets shot and a successor who has AIDS, but when asked if she`s going to read ”Capital Secrets,” a new novel by Maureen Dean, wife of convicted Watergate conspirator John Dean, she replied loudly, ”No!” The book`s cover blurb says it`s ”a sexy, sassy, irresistible tale of rivalries, resentments and murder.” It probably just reminds Mrs. Bush of the New Hampshire primary.
The Deans now live in Beverly Hills, but Big Mo (as she used to be called) was in Washington last week to promote her novel. On Wednesday morning, she opened her Washington Post to read book critic Jonathan Yardley describe it as ”indescribably ludicrous” and ”beyond earthly redemption.” Accusing her of ”cashing in just once more on the reflected glory that was Watergate,” he said of the book, ”Connoisseurs of the genre no doubt will be delighted; all others will need Dramamine.”
A few hours later, the author canceled a scheduled interview, saying that she was ”feeling ill.”
Speaking of John Dean, he is suing fellow Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy over their different versions of what happened in that scandal sparked by a break-in at Democratic headquarters 20 years ago this June. But Liddy may end up with the last word-if only because he controls the mike.
The one-time CIA and White House covert operative, who did more time in stir than any other Watergate culprit because of his refusal to talk, is now a radio talk-show host. Local Washington rock/talk station WJFK had Liddy sit in for a week`s tryout last month, and the response was so great that a number of other radio stations tried to hire him. WJFK signed him to a contract before he could be lured away. Liddy`s no Steve Dahl, but his satirical impersonation of the recorded woman`s voice that Japanese car manufacturers use in their automotive warning systems was truly hilarious.
Several hundred friends of Vice President Dan Quayle threw a 45th birthday party for him in Washington last week, and he shared with everyone a little Hoosier humor.
”I`ll tell you about Marilyn,” he said. ”Marilyn likes Tammy Wynette.”
That was a reference to Hillary Clinton, wife of embattled Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, who had said in a television interview that she was no Tammy Wynette who just stood by her man. She later apologized to the country and western singer for hurting her feelings.
Somehow, knowing all that still doesn`t make Quayle`s attempted quip any funnier.
