Tuna Under the Bed. Powdered Milk In Your Closet

For an administration who strives to control the message, they aren't very good at understanding how that message will be perceived. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt's remarks in Wyoming last week suggest a response to bird flu that would make the Katrina response look as if Hannibal planned it.

He has been widely quoted for his suggestions to

"go to the store and buy three cans of tuna fish, buy a fourth and put it under
the bed, When you go to the store to buy some milk, pick up a box of powdered
milk, put it under the bed."

Deeper in the article it becomes clear that he spoke to larger concerns as well but the remark that will always stick in people's minds is:

"Communities that do not prepare, thinking the federal government will help in
all their needs, will be "tragically disappointed.""