2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Veterans Scandal on Bernie Sanders’s Watch
I think for the sake of transparency, Bernie should release all his private and public emails so we can find out exactly what he knew about this. Maybe he could offer to do that if Hillary agrees to release transcripts of her speeches to Wall Street. (One wonders why the Hillary campaign isn't raising this issue more directly? Any thoughts on that?)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html
Bernie Sanders’s tenure as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was characterized by glaring neglect of his oversight responsibilities, allowing the 2014 VA scandal to unfold under his watch, veterans’ rights advocates argue.
Sanders has touted his work on veterans’ issues, most recently citing his involvement in “the most comprehensive VA health care bill in this country,” in a debate Thursday.
Left unsaid however, is that he was the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, responsible for overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the scandal erupted.
Dozens of veterans died while waiting for medical care at Phoenix Veterans Health Administration facilities, a scandal CNN broke in the spring of 2014. The imbroglio spread with reports of secret waiting lists at other VA hospitals, possibly leading to dozens more preventable deaths.
He held one-sixth of the hearings on oversight that his House of Representatives counterpart held. Republicans griped that they had made multiple requests for more oversight hearings, but received no response. A news host even challenged Sanders as the scandal erupted, saying he sounded more like a lawyer for the VA than the man responsible for overseeing it.
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GeorgiaPeanuts
(2,353 posts)
kcjohn1
(751 posts)I knew where it was coming from just based on the headline.
Same with the Susan Sarandon article.
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)But we already knew that: "Bernie will take your health coverage away", remember?
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)revbones
(3,660 posts)No? Then his emails are public record.
Also, fyi: The Daily Beast, Blue Nation Review and The Daily News Bin are propaganda outlets. Chelsea Clinton is on the board of The Daily Beast. BNR is owned by a Hillary super-PAC ran by admitted liar David Brock and propagandist Peter Daou. Linking to them is no better than trying to justify a point by saying you heard it on Fox News.
Vattel
(9,289 posts)revbones
(3,660 posts)HassleCat
(6,409 posts)Might want to tread carefully, here. The VA is part of the executive branch.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)That had nothing to do with the POTUS.
dogman
(6,073 posts)It has a lot to do with the POTUS.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)What are you saying? The Obama administration fucked up royally and Sanders didn't catch it? Is that your position?
It has EVERYTHING to do with POTUS and the Executive branch.
But you go right on and bash The Obama administration.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)Sanders is responsible for his own actions, or lack thereof, in the committee he chaired. Obama had nothing to do with Bernie's lack of investigation into the problems Bernie was told about.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)... have nothing to do with the investigations in to the Veterans Affairs Administration?
You are alleging Sanders fucked up in not catching the Obama Administration's fuck ups soon enough. The Obama administration is responsible for the disaster that happened on their watch.
I think you need to brush up on civics lessons. The Obama administration handles, through his hand picked administrators, the Department of Veteran Affairs. It's a Cabinet level office. You know what The President's Cabinet does, yes?
The Senate provides oversight. How you can claim the "buck" skips the actual people responsible for administration and "stops" on the desk of people who only provide oversight is truly beyond bizarre.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I am saying that Sanders is responsible for his own lack of action when he was serving as chair of the committee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/faith-in-agency-clouded-bernie-sanderss-va-response.html?_r=1
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)How many vets wouldn't have been in the VA at all if not for the Iraq war that Hillary helped sell to congress?
It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well, effects American security.
This is a very difficult vote, this is probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make. Any vote that might lead to war should be hard, but I cast it with conviction."
In March 2003 she fully endorsed the invasion:
For now nearly 20 years, the principal reason why women and children in Iraq have suffered, is because of Saddam's leadership.
The very difficult question for all of us, is how does one bring about the disarmament of someone with such a proven track record of a commitment, if not an obsession, with weapons of mass destruction.
I ended up voting for the Resolution after carefully reviewing the information and intelligence I had available, talking with people whose opinions I trusted, trying to discount political or other factors that I didn't believe should be in any way a part of this decision, and it is unfortunate that we are at the point of a potential military action to enforce the resolution. That is not my preference, it would be far preferable if we had legitimate cooperation from Saddam Hussein, and a willingness on his part to disarm, and to account for his chemical and biological storehouses.
With respect to whose responsibility it is to disarm Saddam Hussein, I do not believe that given the attitudes of many people in the world community today that there would be a willingness to take on very difficult problems were it not for United States leadership.
She even claimed that what we did to Iraq was a gift:
Hillary Clinton may fancy she opposes the war in Iraq, but she has a funny way of showing it. On Monday night in Austin, she had this to say about what the United States military has done over the past five years:
"We have given them the gift of freedom, the greatest gift you can give someone. Now it is really up to them to determine whether they will take that gift."
There was nothing accidental about this line. She delivered it in response to two Iraq veterans introduced at a town hall meeting at the Austin Convention Center by her friend and campaign surrogate Ted Danson. She liked the line enough that she delivered it again a couple of hours later, at a campaign-closing rally at a basketball arena in south Austin.
"The gift of freedom" is, of course, a curious way to describe an unprovoked invasion and occupation causing hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and leaving just about every aspect of life chaotic and fraught with daily dangers. To then lay responsibility for the mess on the Iraqis -- we did our bit, now you do yours -- is the worst kind of dishonesty, a complete abdication of moral principles. It's the sort of thing George Bush has said to justify his decision both to launch the invasion in the first place and then stay the course -- a course Hillary Clinton has spent many months telling primary and caucus voters she thinks was misconceived from the start.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-gumbel/hillary-goes-orwellian-on_b_89729.html
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)GeorgiaPeanuts
(2,353 posts)...it just doesn't appear to be a very effective attack with no legs. So I think we'll be fine if Repukes use it.
Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)It should produce what you need unless he kept a private server somewhere outside of the regulated public system.
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)Samantha
(9,314 posts)in Congress. These attacks will not fly.
Sam
revbones
(3,660 posts)Is Chuck Grassley personally responsible for narcotics deaths? Why not, he's the chair of the Senate International Narcotics Control Committee.
Are Dianne Feinstein or Lamar Alexander responsible for Flint's water crisis? Why not, they are the chair and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Commitee.
This is just more stupid propaganda from propaganda outlets such as The Daily Beast (Chelsea is on the board) and Blue Nation Review (owned by Hillary super-PAC, and ran by Peter Daou protege of admitted liar David Brock).
That such blatant propaganda would be cited by supposed Democrats is appalling. This is pure Karl Rove 'Art of War' tactics, taking a strength of your opponent and turning it around as a supposed weakness.
As a disabled veteran I find this use of the VA and deaths of veterans against someone that has been a stalwart ally to veterans to be an outrage.
This is completely disgusting.
revbones
(3,660 posts)snowy owl
(2,145 posts)Bernie absolutely always has done his best for veterans. When this came to light, he was on it immediately and he's proud of his achievements with veterans. They have more choices now and he asks them to let him know personally if they have any problems at all.
I don't know about Hillary but I replied to one of the emails I get from Bernie not expecting it to go through. But it did and I actually got a response telling me that my comments would be forwarded to the campaign. Most requests for donations are robotic. Do Hillary's emails allow a reply? I'd like to know.
