No matter what your political persuasion, if you're a U.S. president heading to Jerusalem, there's one place to say: The King David. Sure enough George W. Bush is staying there on his first official visit to Israel.

Bush will be staying in a suite at the King David hotel that costs $2,600 a night -- for guests who are not president of the United States. Assistant General Manager Benny Olearchik would not disclose how much the Americans are paying to stay at his hotel, one of Israel's most expensive.

Bush's entourage already has taken up more than two-thirds of its 237 rooms, and will take over all of them once he arrives himself, Olearchik said. Unlucky guests who happened to plan their visits at the wrong time had their reservations canceled.


There's a word to the wise for people staying at hotels popular with heads of state: you may be kicked out and forced to rebook. We can just imagine the look on the face of the person who had already booked an expensive suite being told, "Sorry, you must stay elsewhere."

We hear security will be a tad tight. "More than 10,500 policemen and security personnel will be deployed to protect Bush and keep order during the visit..." If you're going to be in Israel, this would be a good time to head to the Tel Aviv Hilton instead




A TAD TIGHT?

"TADCO" were 'minding' the President all of the way...

(I now have to type in a RED code: hydrinur)