Too bad that the wolves got him. First, he was attacked because he was right about our muddle east fiasco and Rummie, Cheney and Bush could not allow that.
Now, after the GOP prevents the very funding that would have allowed him to correct the VA problems, then blames him for it.
I am truly beginning to hate what the GOP has done to our country.
When people have to ask themselves āwas he pushed or did he jumpā the answer is always āhe was pushedā.
Senator Sanders will be introducing a bill very shortly which would hopefully force the 30 or so Rs who voted against funding in February to have to vote āyesā this time or STFU
Yup. VA trains people to deal with vets issues, like PTSD, as well as recovery from loss of limbs, brain trauma, etc.
You donāt find that expertise in just any hospital or clinic in Anywhere, USA.
This is just getting worse and worseā¦
Now that the Dems have bent over, again, as usual, clearly the only solution is to privatize the VA.
41 of them.
So we shall see if this is truly about the veterans, or if it still continues to be about nothing more than opposing the President at every turn. I already think I know what the answer is, much to the detriment of the veterans who really, truly need this system to work.
This also runs the danger of pushing the VA closer to what the extreme right wants - its abolishment.
Grandstanding is not limited to one party and thatās what it is when candidates for office including the Senate call for his head as part of their platform.
the dishonorable politicians - what a joke Obama is. question, wouldnāt the deputy secretary of the va be even more guilty of what happened because they are dealing with the regionals on a day to day basis. however this will allow msnbc and fox to talk about this issue as if they care about the troops (if they really cared about the troops they would have investigated the issues last time these issues arose).
Meri - I couldnāt agree more. By pushing vets into the private market, it then enables the shitheads in the GOP to say, "See, thereās no longer a need for a huge government body called the āVeterans Administration.ā The government will then redistribute that āsavedā money to the 1% and veterans will be completely forgotten.
TRULY - problem solved.
Well, not ALL appointments, but certainly a Cabinet-level appointment like this one is requires confirmation.
I heard on the radio this morning that Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg News is saying that one possible replacement being discussed is former Senator Jim Webb, who was once Secretary of the Navy.
What would be wrong with doing away with the VA and awarding every vet a free pass to full ACA benefits with no co-pay? How would the CBO score that one out?
I donāt disagree. Iām equally as disappointed in the Dems who gave in on this as the expected baying of the GOP.
I notice them offering up a lot of platitudes and nonsensical talking pointsā¦hereās an idea: if they thought Shinseki was doing such a terrible job, why donāt they step in and do it as the interim leader? Perhaps theyād learn to keep their mouths shut next time and let the President and the Secretary do their jobs.
I disagree. Countries with universal healthcare donāt have a separate system for vets (though they may have one for active service people). A 65-year-old Vietnam-era vet with prostate cancer is better off seeing a doctor in his community. I can see maintaining clinics to deal with vet-specific issues like PTSD and certain combat traumas, but why have 2 systems to treat the ordinary diseases we all get, based on what you were doing 40 years ago?
My point is there will be someone there serving his role, not that the Senate will do its job anytime soon. Even if there wasnāt someone to replace him itās the Presidentās job to do anyway. Heāll have to take care of it, and considering thereās a scandal going on surrounding the running of the VA heāll probably be the one taking care of it after all.
The veterans are already hurt from this and have been for years. The whole VA hospital system is completely unnecessary in the first place. Send the veterans to hospitals and other facilities, and if theyāre a veteran they donāt pay a penny for care. But the GOP wonāt do that, even for veterans. Itās socialism.
Guys like Shinseki are hired to be fired. I have to wonder if anything more will happen to solve the problem. The key there is going to be increasing VA funding.
I donāt suppose 41 republican senators cutting billions of dollars worth of veteran benefit spending at the same time a 12 year unending war creating hundreds of thousands more veterans had anything to do with the problems at the VA did it? It was all Shinsekis fault right?
Since the republican senators didnāt resign along with Shinseki, the veterans are getting shafted again.
Yay. Congress got its Scapegoat so they can pretend they did something about the problem. What a victory for 'Murika.
/golfclap
Shinseki admitted he took the word of the people at the heads of other VA hospitals that things were going okay- so he admitted he was too trusting and so there was no choice for him but to step down.
This too shall pass folks. There will be an acting head and now they are looking for a replacement
And Democrats surrender. Again.
Iām trying to (honestly) remember. Did the Democrats ever manage to hound anyone out of office under Bush?