Rachel Maddow Turned VA SNAFU Into Full Blown FUBAR

Last night while waiting to fall asleep I was channel surfing when I came across the Rachel Maddow Show as she was talking about the VA. (go there to watch video before you finish reading this)

Seems Rachel is suddenly aware of what we've been talking about forever!

I actually thought I was dreaming when the graphics popped up with the same one I used last week on this very subject.
Veterans Message to Congress We're Not Disposable

Part of me thought it was great someone with a huge (ok, well, at least bigger than mine) audience getting paid to talk about all of the crap that has been going on, was actually doing it, until it dawned on me members of her staff must read Wounded Times because this crossed the line of simply being ironic.

Maddow had a chance to do the right thing on this but, as part of the MSNBC agenda, she had to get political saying that the group, Concerned Veterans For America were behind this.

Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit which seems to be funded almost entirely by the Koch brothers donor network.[1] CVA advocates for reductions in federal spending and free market policies, focusing its campaigns on themes related to veterans.

The group's CEO, Pete Hegseth, was the former executive director of the pro-Iraq War Vets for Freedom[2] and as of June 2014 was finance chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota.[3] Hegseth appears to have attended at least one Koch network summit meeting.

An investigation by ProPublica found that Concerned Veterans for America submits its IRS filings under the name Vets for Economic Freedom Trust. Those documents list former Koch Industries managing director Wayne Gable as a trustee.[4]

The problem is, maybe the same folks were part of this all along but as John Boehner put it, he's been pushing to privatize the VA for "decades" yet this group only goes back a couple of years.

Nice try on Maddow's part but she turned snafu into full blown fubar!

VA threatened by conservative privatization push
Rachel Maddow shows how right wing groups have worked to create a political environment where the previously radical idea of privatizing veterans' health care can be presented as a viable alternative to the VA.

So just as wrong as Maddow was on the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act needing to be passed, even though it was simply a repeat of all the other bills Congress has pushed out like the result of a heavy duty laxative, moaning and groaning about needing to do something to get their name on a bill as if they actually did something worthwhile, she failed to see how long it has all been going on.

What is worse is she had a chance to show that aside from the wasted time, needless suffering and money flushed down the drain, there were lives involved in all of this.

Veterans suffered while Congress got to screw around and screw up long enough to convince folks the boogymen to blame were heads of the VA and not take the time to look at who was really behind all of it. (Oh, by the way, in case Maddow's staffers are reading this again, that would Congress.) The only way to privatize the VA is to destroy it and they just didn't care how many veterans were destroyed in the process.

As usual, Maddow showed up with some good information but managed to just keep her eyes closed to the biggest picture of all. Veterans suffered a lot longer than just going back to when Reagan turned the head of the VA into a cabinet position. (Yep, I caught that reference too!)

McCain is veteran's adversary

Rachel Maddow is covering for Keith Olbermann on Countdown this week. Tonight she played a clip of the exchange between a Vietnam Vet "in a funny looking hat" as McCain put it. The Veteran asked McCain how he can say he has received awards from all the veterans groups when his voting record has been against them year after year. The veteran stated the years and offered to state the Bills McCain voted against. The truth is something McCain cannot run away from no matter how hard he tries to not remember he is not only a veteran, but one who is receiving veteran's benefits as well.

McCain's Policies Being Brought Out Of The Shadows
By ddayblog
John McCain was perfectly content for this election to be about Sen. Obama's readiness and to remain invisible as the alternative in the corner. Unfortunately for him, it's not shaping out that way.

He was hammered by a veteran yesterday, forced to explain his rejection of the new GI Bill and his continued opposition to improving veteran's health care.

McCain tried to backpedal and obfuscate and claim that he has "received the highest award from literally every veterans organization in America". The problem is that's not true.
The recognition McCain has received from veterans groups is not "high awards" but failing grades:
• Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a grade of D for his record of voting against veterans. (By contrast, Obama got a B+.)
• Disabled Veterans of America noted McCain’s dismal 20 percent voting record on veterans’ issues. (Obama had an 80 percent.)
• In a list of "Key Votes," Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) notes McCain "Voted Against Us" 15 times and "Voted For Us" only 8. (Obama voted for VVA 12 times, and against only once.)http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/jul/08/mccains-policies-being-brought-out-shadows

While Bush seems to have gotten away with the fact he linked McCain's name with the passage of the GI Bill, McCain seems to think he can do it as well. McCain said that he wanted it to be better than what it was because it did not go far enough, yet before the Bill was passed, McCain was also on record for months saying the Bill was too generous.

From The Hill

Sen. McCain seeks cover with GI bill
By Roxana Tiron
Posted: 04/22/08 08:14 PM [ET]
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Tuesday unveiled an overhaul of the GI bill to defend himself from veteran-group criticism and steal a bit of thunder from Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), a potential Democratic vice presidential candidate.


The move comes after McCain, a former Navy officer and prisoner of war, was heavily criticized by thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for not supporting Webb’s bill. The criticism was unusual for McCain, who has relied on his military credentials during the campaign.

“We should encourage service members to remain in the military, and they should be rewarded with additional benefits if they do,” McCain said in a release announcing his proposal.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sen.-mccain-seeks-cover-with-gibill-2008-04-22.html

May 22, 2008 The War Room


Thursday, May 22, 2008 16:28 EDT
Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition
By a vote of 75-22, the Senate approved an expanded version of the GI bill today. Proposed by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., it's the biggest expansion of the bill in the past quarter-century, according to the New York Times. But it has also been opposed by, among others, President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Bush, McCain and the others who've opposed Webb's bill argue that the expanded provisions -- the government would pay tuition and expenses at a four-year public university for anyone who spent three years in the military after 9/11 -- will hurt the military's efforts to retain its troops. Bush has threatened to veto Webb's bill, and McCain introduced one of his own. He did not vote today.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/22/gi_bill/

May 26, 2008 Washington Post
For Memorial Day, McCain Critical of Webb's G.I. Bill
By Michael D. Shear
ALBUQUERQUE -- Sen. John McCain asserted that the G.I. Bill sponsored by Virginia Sen. James Webb will drive soldiers out of the armed services at a time when the country is trying to expand the size of the military.

Speaking at a Memorial Day ceremony, McCain praised Webb as "an honorable man who takes his responsibility to veterans very seriously." And he said the bill, which would increase benefits for veterans after serving one tour, is a way of offering the nation's
"deep appreciation" for the veterans who have served.

But McCain insisted that he takes "a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans." And he predicted that Webb's bill would reduce the military's retention rate by 16 percent.

"Encouraging people to choose to not become noncommissioned officers would hurt the military and our country very badly," he said.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/26/mccain_slams_webb_on_gi_bill_i.html

If you Google McCain and GI Bill Too Generous, you'll find even more. Yet readers are fully aware of the deplorable record McCain has to deal with, as the veteran pointed out in the Town Hall meeting. McCain is only comfortable being seen as a war hero who happens to be a veteran but wants to run away from what veterans, like him, need from the nation in return. I suppose the benefits he receives are not too generous for him. After all, as he constantly reminds people, he was a POW in Vietnam. It would be great if that event in his life would translate into taking care of the war heroes who fought and were also wounded in service to the same nation McCain did.

Veterans and members of the service organizations are fully aware of McCain's record. Too bad he isn't. It would also be wonderful if the media managed to confront him about what he says today and what he's said in the Senate all these years. MCain is a veteran but he is also an adversary of them when they needed him to stand up for them.