Keep Him! VA Problems Not On Shinseki, Says Sanders

[MADem]

Link:

Unequivocally, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., now believes that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki should not lose his job following allegations that VA health care workers falsified records of wait times for medical care in the federal system.

In an extensive interview, the chairman of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee defended Shinseki without pause, arguing that the retired general has presided over a generally positive era in an enormous bureaucracy bound to be rife with mistakes, especially when compared to the private sector health care system.

Republicans have pounced on the scandal, saying the VA’s lingering problems and Shinseki’s job survival are examples of President Barack Obama’s feckless leadership style. But Sanders dismissed Republicans who “suddenly care about veterans.” The current scandal, he argued, should not overshadow the retired general’s less talked about successes since taking over the agency from the Bush administration.

“No,” he said flatly, when asked if Shinseki should quit. “The truth is that that the VA is a huge institution. It does a whole lot of very important work. In many ways, Shinseki has done a very good job,” Sanders said, in an interview taped Thursday for CSPAN’s ‘Newsmaker’ roundtable with reporters from Defense One and the New York Daily News.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I've used the VA extensively for years...

and I have my complaints, but I've seen a basically successful system make amazing improvements over those years.

Down at my level as a user, I can't imagine why anyone would want to dump Shinseki.

Politics, of course. Ignore the VA and try to cut its funding, but then when a scandal erupts throw the blame on Obama and anyone in his administration.

[MADem]

2. Anyway they can screw with Obama or his cabinet, they'll try it... nt

[customerserviceguy]

3. I'd feel a lot better about Shinseki

if I saw him thundering on the TV about heads rolling among VA administrators over this. It would at least make a show that he's devoting every effort to rooting out the sort of phony accounting that screws vets and gives bonuses to people whose jobs generally consist of going to seminars and holding boring, meaningless meetings.