Stephen Colbert is positively giddy that the GOP finally has a “real scandal” to focus on — allegations that dozens of veterans died awaiting treatment at VA hospitals.
The comedian said on Thursday’s “The Colbert Report” that so far, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has ignored calls for his resignation “because he knows that once he retires, he’ll have to use healthcare from the VA.”
Colbert also suggested President Barack Obama “get the NSA to start spying on Wolf Blitzer” so news of such scandals reaches him faster. The only other way the President could have been tipped off about problems at the agency, Colbert said, was when the Bush administration sent his team a memo outlining the difficulties veterans faced in seeking care from VA facilities.
“There was a memo. It warned them,” he said. “Bush even personalized it: ‘P.S. VA totally f-ed up. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!’”
“These veterans are suffering under Obama’s watch, after he declared them a top priority and his team had been alerted to misconduct,” Colbert continued with a wide grin. “Do you know what that means? It means we finally have a real scandal. A real scandal!”
Watch below, courtesy of Comedy Central:
Yes, we need a select committee on the VA and jobs. Two real scandals the GOP missed from 2000 to 2008.
Thank you Colbert. Your prize, a lap dance from Kristol and Krauthammer.
A real scandal 30 years in the making, And yes repugs it is all about money.
That was funny in a strange kind of sad way…Colbert is a stitch.
The thing I’ve been curious about is how both the Sequester and the Government shutdown affected problems in the overall VA system in recent years.
I know that the VA wasn’t supposed to be touched through Sequestration, but an article I read from “Stars and Stripes” outlined how there would be many ways the VA will in fact be impacted over time, due to associated services and personnel staffing that help out on the civilian side as ancillary or adjunct in providing services.
The Government Shutdown initiated by House Rethugs with Carnival Cruz as their Grand Poobah also had some affect on services. The VA was unable to process claims during the shutdown so I wonder to what degree that affect had on this mess.
All very good questions, but the real answer I feel is going to be…
When you go to war, as we get better and better at saving lives on the actual battlefields, you are going to have handle more cases of veterans with health problems. Thus you not only have to gear up spending for the VA, you have to gear up a lot more spending. War is expensive. For decades afterwards.
The focus however is going to be on mismanagement, which apparently, there is quite a bit.
The extent of the problems is still unknown, but one thing that’s distressing about the VA’s problems is that the VA was one of my favorite illustrations of why a “government takeover of healthcare” (which the ACA is often accused of being, but which it manifestly is not) might actually be a good thing.
For years, the healthcare provided by the VA has been more efficient, has produced measurably better patient outcomes, and has gotten higher grades from its patients, than any market-driven private healthcare. That’s now all in doubt, since we don’t know just how badly the books might have been cooked. A pity, since the underlying conclusion might still be justified, i.e., that the Government actually can run a hospital better than Surgery ‘R’ Us.