Dem Sen. Mark Udall calls for VA head to resign

[alp227]

Source: AP

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Democratic Senator Mark Udall is calling for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki (shin-SEHK'-ee) to resign.

Udall becomes the first Democratic senator to make such a demand in the ongoing scandal over VA medical care. He made his statement Wednesday on Twitter after the release of an internal report that found the VA systemically delayed care to wounded veterans and manipulated records to cover it up.

The VA's inspector general is investigating 42 VA facilities across the country. It found the average wait time for care at the Phoenix VA hospital was 115 days.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/dem-sen-mark-udall-calls-va-head-resign

[hrmjustin]

1. My guess is that he will resign in the next few days.

It is a shame because he is a great man.

[YvonneCa]

3. And resignation is just what GOP

...want. They are shifting the blame from Bush to Obama, substituting VA medical system for Obamacare...which people are tired of hearing about, as their election season issue. McCain said it may be time for Shinseki to 'move on to other things.'

Like McCain would know...
It's been time for him to move on for a long time. Somehow, he's still here.

[hrmjustin]

4. Whether he stays or not they will blame the president anyway.

The fact is I respect the man very much and I don't want him to go but I doubt he will stay.

It depends on whether the president wants him to stay.

[YvonneCa]

7. I think we agree. I just hope...

...President Obama stands up to GOP pressure.

[alp227]

5. And in early 2013, RACHEL MADDOW did a segment on the VA issues now being politicized.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rachel-maddow/51283141#51283141

Yes, a whole bunch of IAVA members flanked the one being interviewed in studio!

The Republicans are going to the bottom of the barrel for issues to demonize Obama. Hello, hasn't the VA been a dumpster fire for YEARS? Looks like the Republican strategy is to run all sorts of government programs to the ground and use those horrid results to trash "Big Government Democrat Agenda".

Don't believe me? just read what Thom Hartmann unearthed about the 1970s "Two Santa Claus Theory".

[YvonneCa]

8. Exactly. I am so tired of their...

...twisting everything to be President Obama's fault...or his Administration, when much of the fault lied in the Bush years.

[markmyword]

13. Excuse Me!

It's amazing how the GOP DEMAND the resignation of Democratic appointees or people with a progressive point of view.
Where's the outrage for INCOMPETENCE of Wall Street Bankers? Why weren't THOSE CEO's FIRED? Made to RESIGN?

[YvonneCa]

14. Simple. They are not big government. n/t

[sulphurdunn]

2. Obama should remind Udall

that Shinseki serves at his pleasure, not his, but he won't of course.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. Udall should resign...

After all, as a member of the U.S. Senate, he, and his comrades in the House, actually handle the spending that goes directly to the VA.

[earthside]

9. Not a Mark Udall fan.

I wish Tom was our U.S. Senator in Colorado.

Mark is a go-along-to-get-along Senator; he thinks being folksy is all liberals and progressives want from him.

He'll probably get re-elected, but I don't sense any great enthusiasm for his candidacy.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. *Ugh*. With Dems like these

Seems like a act of political convenience. Nun and (I think) Grimes are calling for his resignation too.

Very disappointing.

[HeiressofBickworth]

11. I think that if Shinseki resigns

Congress will consider the VA problems "fixed" and do nothing to make actual changes to improve it. Like Obamacare, the GOP wants no health care for anyone. So by refusing to allocate funds to it, they will prove (to their own satisfaction) that the system doesn't work and they can close it. But can you imagine the gnashing of teeth if members of Congress lost their medical care?

[alp227]

12. Exactly. This Congress is more about making Obama look bad than doing something for the people.

I wonder how many right wingers realize how much they're being conned by the conservatives! The book Do Not Ask What Good We Do detailed the Republican strategy of "oppose ANYTHING Obama does", even if the Republican supported similar legislation in the GWB years.