2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSanders Presided Over Veterans Committee While The Scandal Unfolded.
Sanders supporters like to think the fact he ran for office multiple times on a platform which included seizing Rockefeller property wouldn't hurt him in the GE.
The fact is, he hasn't been vetted in any meaningful way.
For instance, the Media hasn't bothered to rake him over the coals for his failure of leadership while he was chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. And this failure alone would sink his candidacy in the GE. And it's just problem number one that hasn't been properly publicized.
As chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Sanders neglected his role of oversight and allowed the 2014 VA scandal to unfold under his watch.
"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 was responsible for overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the scandal erupted.
"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."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html
..
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 systemic leadership failures in the hospital system.
Mr. Sanders eventually changed course, becoming critical of the agency and ultimately joining with Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, and other colleagues to draft a bipartisan bill to try to fix the veterans health care waiting list.
snip
But a review of his record in the job also 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.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/faith-in-agency-clouded-bernie-sanderss-va-response.html?_r=0
Jitter65
(3,089 posts)Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)so I dont believe any of that.
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)get back to me
ANY action by the right was to destroy VA
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Sanders had to catch up to JOHN McCAIN. The Republicans requested many more hearings and Sanders refused.
Here, I'll post this one more time especially for you:
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 systemic leadership failures in the hospital system.
Mr. Sanders eventually changed course, becoming critical of the agency and ultimately joining with Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, and other colleagues to draft a bipartisan bill to try to fix the veterans health care waiting list.
snip
But a review of his record in the job also 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.
WhiteTara
(29,722 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)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 systemic leadership failures in the hospital system.
Mr. Sanders eventually changed course, becoming critical of the agency and ultimately joining with Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, and other colleagues to draft a bipartisan bill to try to fix the veterans health care waiting list.
snip
But a review of his record in the job also 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.
TheBlackAdder
(28,222 posts).
The comics aligning one stupid OP with an equal counterbalance to maintain harmony and balance.
.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)and free of spin.
Sanders presided over the Committee before, during and after the scandal occurred and buried his head in the sand.
He held fewer meetings than the Republicans requested and finally had to follow the lead of John freaking McCain.
TheBlackAdder
(28,222 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)many have moved on to the GE.
But, facts are facts, and they should be known.
virtualobserver
(8,760 posts)With eight years on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee two of them as chairman it is no understatement to say that Senator Sanders has taken care of wounded, ill and injured veterans and their surviving family members, said Stroud. He has been a commanding voice against changing the COLA calculations for disabled veterans, for the proper care and treatment of women veterans, homeless veterans, for better employment opportunities and improved access to mental health programs, as well as increased congressional oversight of the VA claims processing transformation, he said.
And when the VA imploded last year, he was the lead negotiator for the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which the president signed into law last summer, said the VFW national commander. The VA still has an uphill climb to fix whats broken, to hold employees appropriately accountable, and to restore the faith of veterans in their VA, but veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States senator has their back in Congress.
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)That article is pretty slanted.
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/cnn-hounds-bernie-sounders-va-scandal-you-sound-lawyer-defending-hospital
virtualobserver
(8,760 posts)HumanityExperiment
(1,442 posts)Iraq War... who voted FOR it and who voted against it?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/protesters-storm-iraqi-parliament-in-baghdad/2016/04/30/0862fd3a-0ec1-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html
What will HRC do if, or rather WHEN Iraq falls?