Bush won't attend U.S. crew's welcome-home ceremony

Preparations are underway on Friday for the homecoming ceremony in Whidbey Island Naval Air Station

From CNN's Kelly Wallace and Christy Darden

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush won't be traveling to Washington state for the homecoming ceremony for the 24 crew members who were detained in China, because he does not "believe that politicians need to always insert themselves into tender moments," his spokesman said Friday.

Bush, who is spending the Easter holiday weekend with his family at his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, might watch television coverage of the crew's homecoming Saturday, said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

Fleischer said when the president met Wednesday in North Carolina with the parents of Steven Blocher, an aviation electrician's mate, Bush told them, "It's important for everyone to come home without a lot of hoop-de-la."

Vice President Dick Cheney also will not attend the homecoming, Fleischer said.

"The military will know how to welcome people back," said the Bush spokesman. "That will be fitting and appropriate and just the right amount of hoop-de-la."

Friday, Bush started his day at his ranch with his typical intelligence briefings and then went out for a "long, long walk" with his family, Fleischer said. The commander-in-chief also cleared brush and chopped cedar for a couple of hours.

Joining the Bushes at the ranch this weekend are daughter Jenna, Bush's brother Marvin and Mrs. Bush's mother, Jenna Welch.

The president's parents, former President Bush and former first lady, Barbara, will arrive on the ranch Saturday, Fleischer said.

The former president provided administration officials with advice during the 11-day standoff in which the 24 crew members were held on the Chinese island of Hainan after a collision with a Chinese fighter jet, a senior administration official told reporters. The official said unnamed administration officials contacted the senior Bush.

The White House still won't say if the current president was one of the officials who reached out to the former president, saying that all contacts between the president and his father are "private."

The Bushes will attend Easter sunrise services Sunday at the Prairie Chapel Baptist Church.

The church's "previous claim to fame," according to a senior administration official, is that it is one of the locations where Bush prepared for one of his presidential campaign debates.

"We did a debate session there," said the official. "They have a little fellowship hall and we rented it to do a debate -- a mock debate."

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