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Thom's blog
The Mitch McConnell VA Scandal
The Republican Chaos Strategy is working like a charm, and now the GOP is trying to make everyone forget who the real villains are when it comes to denying benefits to our veterans. And the real villains, despite what you might hear over at Fox So-Called news, are all the Republican lawmakers who have repeatedly blocked bills that would have helped out American veterans and given more resources to the VA.
The reason I bring this up is that over the past few weeks, we've learned some disturbing things about the goings on at one Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. According to a number of reports, the hospital's administrators covered up information about long wait times at the facility, wait times that spanned - and maybe even hastened - the deaths of 40 veterans.
The allegations, if true, are shocking, and have led many lawmakers in Washington to call for deeper investigations into the VA as well as the resignation of its Secretary, Eric Shinseki, who is scheduled to testify about the controversy on Capitol Hill tomorrow. Republican Texas Senator Jon Cornyn has led the charge in trying to get Shinseki to resign, saying that he thinks it's time "for new leadership at the VA."
Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, while not explicitly calling for Shinseki to quit, has said that "a change in leadership [at the VA] might be a good step in the right direction." Public outrage about what allegedly went on at the Phoenix VA hospital is understandable and justified, but what we're seeing from Republicans like Cornyn - McConnell - and Fleming is just cynical manipulation of public opinion.
Republicans don't really care about veterans or the VA, they just care about using this controversy to discredit the President and his Democratic Party - there is an election coming up, after all - and as a twofer, discredit the idea of government-run healthcare programs like the VA. John McCain has even called for the VA to be privatized. The hypocrisy here is astounding.
-Thom
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