Nancy Trejos writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush visited Montgomery Blair High School yesterday for a town hall-style meeting to discuss his plan to partially privatize Social Security -- an appearance that drew about 400 protesters outside the Silver Spring school.
"The loudest voices came from some Montgomery County residents and Blair students who questioned why they were not allowed inside. They were kept far from the president, but their shouts and beating drums could be heard by some of the 500 invitees waiting to pass through security. . . .
"Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said blocks of tickets were distributed to several nonprofit organizations, including Young America's Foundation, which selected the individuals who received them. . . .
"Duffy said he did not know if any of those invited were county residents."
Richard Benedetto writes in USA TODAY: "Many in the audience were college students, some of whom came on buses from Georgetown University to hear the president's speech."
Bush said he was pleased that Republicans are "laying out ideas" for Social Security, but as Caren Bohan writes for Reuters, he "did not address specifics of the starkly different proposals offered by the U.S. House of Representatives Republican leadership and Republican Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah. Both also differ from what Bush has proposed."
Mike Allen and Jonathan Weisman write in The Washington Post: "For six months, Republicans have traveled the country as fiscal Paul Reveres, sounding the alarm about the coming collapse of Social Security. Polls showed that although voters did not warm to President Bush's proposed solution, he made substantial headway in convincing them the retirement system is headed for insolvency.
"But when House leaders finally rolled out their Social Security plan this week, it did nothing to address the problem that lawmakers and the president have convinced the public is looming as baby boomers retire. Instead, the GOP proposal would create a temporary system of personal accounts that Democrats dismissed as a costly shell game."
Here's the transcript of yesterday's event.
And Ben? Nice shoes!
Bush and CAFTA
Libby Quaid writes for the Associated Press: "The White House sent Congress legislation late Thursday in an effort to secure passage of a controversial Central American trade agreement as Bush administration officials offered new concessions to the sugar industry to win support."
Here's the official White House letter , and here's the text of Bush's remarks about CAFTA yesterday.
NBC Exclusive No More
FishbowlDC blogger Garrett M. Graff reports on the demise of NBC's exclusive access to the first lady's upcoming Africa trip.
Are You Ready For Some Tee-Ball?
The first game of the fourth-annual "Tee Ball on the White House South Lawn" will be held Sunday, June 26, 2005, the White House announced .
The Gay Aide
New York Daily News gossip columnists George Rush and Joanna Molloy publicly out White House aide Israel Hernandez this morning: "President Bush isn't letting potential howls from the Christian right stop him from nominating an openly gay man as assistant secretary of commerce. . . .
"The 35-year-old Republican go-getter has been a Bush acolyte since the President's 1994 campaign for governor of Texas. (Among Hernandez's duties was supplying the candidate with breath mints, prompting Dubya to dub him 'Altoid Boy.'). . . .
"One source tells us Hernandez waited until Bush was sworn in for a second term to formally tell him he is gay. By then, says a source, he'd brought his partner to several official events.
"Hernandez appeared yesterday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Asked by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) if he'd like to introduce anyone, Hernandez mentioned his sister, mother and father."
