2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhen will Bernie be held accountable for the deaths of 40 veterans?
Bernie has never had much responsibility. He was never involved in Party politics, so never played a key role in influencing the Democratic Party. As a Congressperson and Senator, he was merely a reliable vote for liberals, little more. But, when he was finally given a position of real authority, as Chairperson of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, he blew it and contributed indirectly to the deaths of many veterans by his blind allegiance to a failing agency. It was his only real responsibility in all his years in Washington, and he failed. Imagine if he had to handle more than one thing at a time, like a president does.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/faith-in-agency-clouded-bernie-sanderss-va-response.html?_r=0
There were reports of secret waiting lists to hide long delays in care. Whistle-blowers said as many as 40 veterans had died waiting for appointments. And Congress was demanding answers.
Despite mounting evidence of trouble at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Bernie Sanders, then the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, initially regarded the complains as overblown, and as a play by conservatives to weaken one of the the country's largest social welfare institutions.
"There is, right now, as we speak, a concerted effort to undermine the V.A.," Mr. Sanders said in May 2014, two weeks after the story was picked up by news organizations ....
But the scandal deepened: The secretary of veterans affairs resigned. Reports showed major problems at dozens of V.A. hospitals. And an Obama administration review revealed "significant and chronic systemtic leadership failures" in the hospital system.
Mr. Sanders eventually changed course.
...
But a review of his record in the job shows that in a moment of crisis, his deep-seated faith in the fundamental goodness of government blinded him, at least at first, to a dangerous breakdown in the one corner of it he was supposed to police. Despite inspector general reports dating back a decade that documented a growing problem with wait times, Mr. Sanders, who had served on the committee for six years before he became its head, was quick to defend the agency and slow to aggressively question V.A. officials and demand accountability.
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hobbit709
(41,694 posts)
JeffHead
(1,186 posts)If we're talking about the deaths of military personnel, Hillary has gallons more blood on her hands than Bernie ever will. But you knew that.
TCJ70
(4,387 posts)...rather than the one who created the veterans who needed the care.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)
frylock
(34,825 posts)Shameful.
sixersixersixer
(17 posts)Not Bernie.
Jitter65
(3,089 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)She knew damn well what she was doing when she enthusiastically voted for the IWR. And her actions as SoS in Libya and Syria.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)
DVRacer
(707 posts)I just had one of the most visceral reactions of repulsion to this OP.
As a disabled veteran I ask you rethink this line of thought.
Now excuse me as I feel sick at my stomach.
Onlooker
(5,636 posts)... The fact that you're disabled has nothing to do with the fact that Bernie did not do a good job in oversight of the VA Administration. Bernie's failure is not in any way a reflection on your service.
As long as I get to read thread after thread of anti-Hillary Republican talking points by Bernie supporters, I think its reasonable to point out Bernie's own shortcomings.
DVRacer
(707 posts)My in the line of duty helicopter crash into a hillside in Bosnia in 1997 was very well documented. Yet I only just last year was awarded 100% disability after 4 knee surgeries and 3 spinal cord surgeries. It was because directly of efforts by President Obama and Bernie Sanders and other Democrats to bring about change at the VA. I waited everyday Shrub was in office telling everyone else to support the troops. I'm shaking I want to take your bait and tell you what this old sailor really thinks.
Onlooker
(5,636 posts)... but I will not pander to you, and I hope you respect that. I actually know a disabled vet (lost two limbs) who is an avid Hillary supporter because he thinks we need to go after ISIS and doesn't believe Bernie will do so. This guy was disabled in Iraq. And, yes, we agree that the Democrats are much better than the Republicans, though the fact remains that Bernie has never really been a gung-ho military guy, in many ways to his credit.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)
polly7
(20,582 posts)For decades, Bernie Sanders has stood with us. He has fought to preserve benefits for veterans and improve health care at the VA, for appropriate services for women veterans, for better education and employment opportunities, and for improved access to mental health programs. Now, we stand with Bernie Sanders.
In his second inaugural address, President Lincoln vowed “to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, [and] to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” Bernie Sanders is guided by that same belief — that as a nation, we have a solemn obligation to make sure that all veterans get the benefits and timely access to quality services that they earned and are entitled to.
Last year, as Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Bernie Sanders successfully led a bi-partisan effort to pass the most far-reaching veterans legislation in decades; to expand veterans’ health care, establish dozens of new VA clinics, hire more doctors and nurses, and increase transparency and accountability at the VA. The bill also guarantees that recently separated veterans get in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, and extends educational benefits to surviving spouses of veterans who died in the line of duty.
“Veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States Senator has their back in Congress.”
These are real achievements, rather than the empty promises and hollow platitudes we so often hear from Washington. It is no wonder that the VFW honored Bernie Sanders with its prestigious Congressional Award this past March, noting, “Veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States Senator has their back in Congress.”
But perhaps Bernie Sanders’ greatest contribution in Congress has been to repeatedly remind his colleagues who insist we don’t have the money to provide veterans with the highest quality care and benefits: “If we can’t afford to take care of our veterans, then maybe we shouldn’t go to war.”
http://vetsforbernie.org/
Bernie's Veteran Bills:
http://vetsforbernie.org/bernies-veterans-bills/
Onlooker
(5,636 posts)Hell, there are veterans for Trump and Cruz, and I'm sure there were veterans for Bush. So, not sure what your point is.
polly7
(20,582 posts)I suggest you do .......... from all the videos to the bottom of the page.
Vinca
(50,278 posts)leeroysphitz
(10,462 posts)
marble falls
(57,106 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)marble falls
(57,106 posts)I'm a vet and I thank G*d for Bernie Sanders. If you think Bernie is to blame then you weren't in the VA system during the Clinton and Bush years. Thanks to the President and Sen Sanders I get wonderful care and no thanks to Hillary who wants to privatize it AND cut vet's benefits. You really need to do some checking into correct your gross misunderstanding veteran affairs.
