Interesting CNN item.

[Skidmore]

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/bernie-sanders-veterans-affairs-delays/

(CNN)Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders offered on Wednesday night as close to an apology as he could when pressed on why he -- as the former chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee -- waited so long to act on the burgeoning wait list scandal at the VA.

When pressed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Sanders lack of action, the Vermont senator responded, "We should have done better."

The admission came during a CNN town hall forum in New Hampshire hosted by Cooper, who confronted Sanders with the candidate's own record.

Sanders has been criticized for his lack of action during the two years he chaired the committee, all but ignoring the government's own investigations pointing out quality of care and wait list issues at VA medical centers across the country. More plus video

[Dawson Leery]

1. Bernie is not so pure.

[livetohike]

2. "We" could have done better? He will never acknowledge his incompetence as Chair of the committee.

The VA is part of The Establishment he wants to overthrow.

[yallerdawg]

3. The bloom...

is off the rose.

Let the vetting begin!

[Agnosticsherbet]

4. Sanders has a problem with admiting he is wrong.

This is not an unusual failing in humans, but it can be insufferable.

[displacedtexan]

5. So much for Bernie's "she should have done this" or she didn't do that" routine.

And I love how he pretends the pac money funding his ad buys has nothing to do with him. He's the single person in the country today who could stick us with either another Bush or a Trump. Chilling.

[pandr32]

6. Sanders also ignored the warnings of major veterans groups

...who cautioned that corruption and waste was rife within the VA, and increasing funding without addressing these problems would be like poring water into a sieve. Guess what happened? Increased funding (that Sanders pats himself on the back for) on one end, and over 4 billion wasted on the other. No wonder Sanders was able to strike a deal with Republicans who always have their people with their hands out in the middle of federal funding.
It was a rhetorical score for Sanders who tries to use it to say he has experience, but not a score for veterans.

[Lucinda]

7. That would be a huge huge target in the GE

And it is with me too.

[riversedge]

8. The Veterans Scandal on Bernie Sanders’s Watch--his lack of Leadership skils as Chairman

02.04.16 11:03 PM ET
The Veterans Scandal on Bernie Sanders’s Watch

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html


While he was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Sanders ‘believed in government, and he believed in it to a fault,’ a congressional source said—and it prevented him from fixing the VA.

Bernie Sanders’ tenure as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was characterized by glaring neglect of his oversight responsibilities, allowing the 2014 VA scandal to unfold under his watch, veterans’ rights advocates argue.

Sanders has touted his work on veterans’ issues, most recently citing his involvement in “the most comprehensive VA health care bill in this country,” in a debate Thursday.

Left unsaid however, is that he was the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, responsible for overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the scandal erupted.

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 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.

“We feel that he did not live up to his responsibilities as SVAC chairman to provide oversight into this. He keeps hiding behind the mantle [of the title]. And yes, he did pass the $15 billion piece of legislation, but that’s… akin to closing the barn door after the chickens have escaped,” said Matthew Miller, the chief policy officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.............


And a tweet:

Bernie Sanders was Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs during the VA scandal http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/10/15/bernie-sanders-veterans-affairs-griffin-dnt-ac.cnn … #Veterans #p2

[kjones]

9. How's he going to stop Wall St. corruption if he couldn't stop VA corruption? nt

[George II]

10. CNN also did an in-depth report about the treatment of veterans back in 2012-2014.....

Here's most of the video:

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/politics/bernie-sanders-veterans-affairs-delays/