Previous post
Next post
It’s not enough for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to pull a campaign finance shell game with her ‘fun run’ shenanigans over the weekend. Nope, she opens her mouth and stupid stuff falls out. Today she dug another hole for herself by telling her audience that ‘it’s a myth’ that the VA has ever had any problems.
Just a few days ago, she said the VA has never been broken.
She must’ve been hiding under that special rock to have missed the last 5+ years of problems at VA facilities around the country that gained international attention. She also must’ve plugged her fingers in her ears during any briefings about the VA (if she was briefed about the VA) since she took office. Has she talked to any of the Congressmen who sit on the Committee on Veteran Affairs to learn more about the issues and concerns given there is a major VA facility in her district? I’d say that would be a NO.
Instead she lashes out at the idea that some of the VA should be privatized.
“”Like many public systems, GOP want to rip the battery out + say the whole car doesn’t work, so they can sell it for parts,” the congresswoman wrote. “Fully funding the VA & hiring to fill the *49k vacancies* is a clear path to improving it – not auctioning off our vet care systems to for-profit companies.””
Given the fact that there have been serious gaps in care for our veterans through the VA, which we’ve written about multiple times, getting it out from under government oversight is a much better idea than maintaining the status quo that has led to grave illnesses and death for too many of our veterans.
Veterans in Arizona, Cheyenne, Oklahoma, New York, Maine, Georgia and elsewhere, to received care that was inadequate or non-existent. And don’t get me started on the theft or the lack of credentials among administrators/staff/doctors/nurses.
Understandably many people weren’t happy with her assertion. Meghan McCain called her out as did many others.
Did AOC take a step back and think, hmmmm – with all the reaction there must be something there and do some research?
No. Instead she decided to dig a bigger hole for herself. Behold:
.@AOC Doubles Down, Says VA Problems Are a ‘Myth’ https://t.co/ibJTqWzF6K pic.twitter.com/GCFb9IpvWI
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 29, 2019
A ‘MYTH??!!’ Seriously, a freaking MYTH? Veterans died of Legionnaires disease in Pittsburg due to those ‘mythical’ problems. Veterans have had to wait for months to be seen for minor and serious medical issues. But sure! That’s all a ‘myth’ according to AOC’s bartender wisdom.
As a disabled veteran who lives in constant debilitating pain, I can say with 100% certainty that the VA is a disgrace. It took over a year for me to be put into "physical therapy" after having my spine fused, and they literally gave up because I didnt show improvement.
— Trevor Martin (@Caniac1978) April 29, 2019
Untimely deaths. Unnecessary surgeries. Fly-infested operating rooms. Falsified records. A "climate of complacency" resulting in "unnecessary risk" and a "breakdown of core services." 3 of last 4 VA secs resigned in disgrace.
This is an embarrassment. https://t.co/QHclWl0nry https://t.co/2Fx0YvQoUZ
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) April 29, 2019
No problems at the VA? Ask veteran Johnny (Joey) Jones, a retired marine who lost both his legs to an IED, about the ‘mythical’ VA problems. He was turned away from the VA after a five hour wait because no one wanted to step up and help with a simple prescription order.
Then why are we reading stories about veterans who are committing suicide at various VA facilities?
“On Friday, April 5, a veteran died by suicide in the parking lot of the VA medical center in Dublin, Georgia. The next day, a 68-year-old veteran killed himself outside the main entrance of the Atlanta VA hospital. And on April 9, a veteran shot himself in the waiting room of a VA clinic in Austin, Texas.”
According to AOC’s logic, the veteran suicides at VA facilities are just a ‘myth.’
Our VA is broken. It needs a major reorganization. The entire VA system needs to remember its purpose. Care, the very best of care, for all those who have served our country. The VA has not been serving our veterans as they should. THAT is the truth.
There’s a tweet for everything:
April 27th – "…there is a myth that all VAs everywhere are broken." – @AOC
Sept. 2017 – "…our vets still can't get proper VA care at home." – @AOChttps://t.co/mD7hH2zC6Lhttps://t.co/5SHhIijZIs pic.twitter.com/xhjqsh3Fl9— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) April 29, 2019
Oh I see. The VA was broken then, but suddenly it never was broken? If she wants to protect the VA and it’s funding, then she needs to start by getting a dose of reality and realizing that the VA IS BROKEN and needs a massive overhaul.
But do NOT tell our nation’s veterans that any problems they’ve experienced at the VA are a ‘myth.’ The problems are very real and lives continue to be at risk if the issues aren’t addressed.
Our veterans deserve better at the VA and they certainly deserve better than to be lectured by AOC and her ‘mythical’ idiocy.
Feature Photo Credit: Ståle Grut / NRKbeta, via Flickr.com, cropped and modified
Nancy says: You mean she’s aware of ring worm in Alabama, but not VA quality or performance. She probably thinks a vet is an animal doctor.
sound awake says: she wasnt under a rock
she was tending bar
remember
GWB says: OK, a couple of points.
This one isn’t aimed at Nina, but a general complaint about how VA issues get covered:
Let’s make sure that we say that the system is broken, but there ARE very good VA hospitals within that system. I work with and live around a LOT of vets, and many of them are satisfied to very happy with their VA care. The real issue is whether the problems (especially the grotesque ones) are the exception or getting too close to a rule. (Yes, I think they are closer to ‘rule’ than ‘exception’.) Also, how do we fix it.
This is how you make sure that the other side can’t simply trot out a bunch of happy veterans to shut down the argument.
Second is the suicide bit.
While veterans committing suicide in the parking lot is pretty dramatic, I’d like to know if non-veterans ever do that, and if so, how similar are the situations? Also, what were their individual situations?
Now, none of this is to deny problems. If AOC had been smarter rubbed together her two brain cells, she could have defended her all-gov’t-for-everyone position much better. All she had to do to minimize it was state that it was overblown by media* and we should keep working to fix the problem spots. Even letting her near this issue makes it dumbioactive for every other Democrat, now. (That’s like ‘radioactive’ from a neutron bomb, but it only works on brain cells.)
(* Yes, the media does overblow things. One of the prime difficulties with any problem the media identifies is how much is real problem and how much is repetition, and how much is dragging out old stories (which now seem like additional problems), and how much is conflating one problem with another. It’s part of the Perpetual Outrage Machine that powers the media.)
All in all, a good post, Nina.
Nina Bookout says: GWB – excellent points as always. Yes indeed there are some good areas within the VA.
However, AOC definitely said the VA wasn’t broken. Then dug in and said the VA problems were a myth.
Does that mean ALL of the VA is broken? No. Does that mean significant portions of the VA are problematic? Yes
How many brain cells does AOC have? Good question
Don’t overlook a large part of the OBAMA VA scandal was the fact that VA administrators manipulated waiting lists in order to get performance bonuses.
Mark Gibson says: 1) as a college sophomore I had some foot problems related to an injury I relieved in service; the VA told me there was a two year waiting list to see a podiatrist. I gave up & used some Pell Grant $ to get orthotics made. A week before I graduated I got a letter from the VA telling me that since I missed my podiatrist appointment I was no longer allowed to make telephone appointments.
2) last fall I had a terrible cold which turned into bronchitis. I went to my assigned VA clinic in Broward County, was examined, and the doc told me I should go to a regular hospital’s emergency room because I was having a hard time breathing, (I didn’t….I just didn’t have $1200 to spend at the time.) I got better eventually…through absolutely no thanks to the VA.
6 Comments