Old People Haven’t Been This Excited Since Golden Girls Was Canceled

Or maybe since the invention of Viagra. Anyhoo, yesterday a flash mob of old people descended upon the Arlington home of poor Michael Leavitt:

Several hundred activists from throughout the country demonstrated at the doorstep of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt yesterday to protest the administration’s prescription drug plan for senior citizens. The unannounced visit to Leavitt’s home in Arlington County was made by members of the Chicago-based National People’s Action, a coalition of neighborhood advocacy groups that is more than 30 years old.

Betty Gazaway, 72, of Cincinnati, who knocked on Leavitt’s door, said a woman who identified herself as his wife politely told Gazaway that Leavitt was on a plane and could not be reached by phone. Arlington police showed up minutes later and moved the crowd away from the front door of the house.

In defending Secretary Leavitt’s decision not to extend the enrollment deadline for Medicare Part D — just a week away, on May 15 (consider that a public service announcement) — an HHS spokesman said: “Deadlines are good. They get people to take action.”

Our tipster quips: “Guess this only applies for old people and not, say, Iraq.”

Touché.

Protesters Swarm HHS Chief’s Home [WP]

READ MORE: hhs, medicare, michael leavitt, old people

Daily Briefing: The ‘Cool’ Governor

• Bush, visiting New Orleans, fields complaints about government’s response. [WP, NYT]
• White House dismisses doubts about Miers. Thune: “It has been my expectation that President Bush would nominate someone in the mold of Justices Scalia and Thomas and it is my hope that Harriet Miers will prove to be such a person.” [WT]
• Michael Leavitt outlines flu pandemic fears: “What if it weren’t just New Orleans. What if it were Seattle, San Diego, Corpus Christi, Denver, Chicago, New York? Make your own list.” [USAT]
• Documents related to Miers from 1995-2000 released by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission “provide a glimpse into her views on the proper separation of powers and the debate over making the civil justice system more fair and predictable.” Miers considered Bush to be “cool” and “the best governor ever.” [WP, NYT]
• Fitzgerald considered relentless, aggressive, and apolitical. [USAT]
• Military considers special force for natural disaster relief. [NYT]

READ MORE: Democrats, Republicans, Rita, SCOTUS, White House, angela merkel, arnold schwarzenegger, asia, avian flu, blogging, condoleezza rice, disaster response, fbi, george w. bush, germany, harriet miers, john mccain, john thune, katrina, leak investigation, marijuana, michael leavitt, military, new orleans, patrick fitzgerald, texas

Daily Briefing — Katrina: A ‘Besieged White House’

• Rove and Bartlett devised plan to shift blame to Louisiana and to ignore Democrats’ attacks; many Bush advisors spent weekend at Nicole Devenish’s wedding in Greece. Chertoff’s talking point: “We will have time to go back and do an after-action report, but the time right now is to look at what the enormous tasks ahead are.” [NYT]
• Officials point fingers over failures in Gulf Coast. Nagin: “We’re still fighting over authority.” Hillary calls for independent commission to analyze response. [NYT, WT]
• “Besieged White House” forced to balance problems on the Gulf Coast, complexity of Supreme Court drama, and ongoing challenges in Iraq. [WP, WT]
• High death toll anticipated. Michael Leavitt: “I think it’s evident it’s in the thousands.” Chertoff: “We need to prepare the country for what’s coming.” [WP, NYT, LAT]

READ MORE: Media, cable news, dan bartlett, doris kearns goodwin, fema, george w. bush, hillary clinton, howard kurtz, karl rove, katrina, louisiana, michael chertoff, michael leavitt, nicole devenish, ray nagin