I was surprised so many Democrats called on Shinseki to resign. From the Atlantic Wire today.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Fri May 30, 2014, 10:30 PM - Edit history (1)

A Running List of Everyone Who Wants VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to 'Move On'

Since the GOP has habitually voted no to improved funding of the Veterans' Administration, I thought that would play a bigger role. That would be hard with so many in both parties saying for him to go. Guess there was no choice? Makes me kind of sad.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki took to the opinion page of USA Today on Thursday to outline everything he's doing to fix the "reprehensible" scandal plaguing his department. It's a start, but probably not enough to stop the growing list of members of Congress calling for his head. (Update: Shinseki has resigned.)

As soon as Wednesday's preliminary report from the VA's Office of Inspector General found that delayed medical care to veterans and cooked books is "systemic throughout" the nation's VA hospitals, many members of Congress who were on the fence quickly called for Shinseki to step down. Here's a list of every member of Congress calling for him to resign, or for President Obama to force him to resign. (Updated Friday 11:37 am)

None of the Republicans surprised me, so just listing the Democrats.

Sen. Mary Landrieu

Sen. Mark Begich

Sen. Al Franken

Sen. Tim Kaine

Sen. Jeff Merkley

Sen. Tom Udall

Sen. Martin Heinrich

Sen. Kay Hagan

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

Sen. Mark Udall

Sen. John Walsh

Sen. Mark Warner

Rep. Tammy Duckworth

Rep. Peter DeFazio

Rep. Julia Brownley

Rep. Derek Kilmer

Rep. Suzan DelBene

Rep. Ron Barber

Rep. Bruce Braley

Rep. Jerry McNerney

Rep. Rick Nolan

Rep. Scott Peters

Rep. Collin Peterson

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema

The comments of some are posted. I am just posting the comments of Tammy Duckworth about her former boss.

Duckworth, a former Veteran Affairs official and veteran, said Friday her former boss should step down to direct the conversation back to veterans:

Our first priority should be the veterans and at this point whether Secretary Shinseki will stay or go is too much of a distraction. I think he has to go. He certainly loves veterans, but it's time for new leadership, it's time to get someone in who will put veterans first. We've moved away from veterans being the primacy of the conversation. It's now a political discussion and that's now where it should be when it comes to our nation's heroes.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Some disappointing names on the list, including my Rep, Delbene...

But I guess Gen Shinseki had to go so maybe we can get down to actually fixing the problems, which predate this administration by decades.

In and of itself, replacing the General does absolutely nothing for the real problems.

[madfloridian]

2. I was disappointed also.

Tammy Duckworth's words bothered me. She should have had more confidence in her former boss.

[madfloridian]

3. Bothered me Duckworth said it SHOULD be a "political discussion".

It should have been an honest discussion about the ones refusing to support veterans by funding.

[former9thward]

32. Who has refused to fund the VA?

VA funding has gone up every year. Obama has never made a complaint that the VA was not funded. In fact Friday he said the opposite:


When it came to funding, we’ve increased funding for VA services in an unprecedented fashion because we understood that it’s not enough just to give lip service to our veterans but not being willing to put our money where our mouth is.

As secretary of the VA, he presided over record investments in our veterans, ...


And under his leadership, we have seen more progress on more fronts at the VA and a bigger investment in the VA than just about any other VA secretary,...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-obamas-remarks-on-resignation-of-va-secretary-eric-shinseki/2014/05/30/92cd831a-e80c-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html

Not once did Obama blame the budget. But on this board that is the only thing people are blaming. Obama blamed the culture at the VA and he is right.

What do you know that Obama doesn't?

[mopinko]

4. if tammy says he should go, he should go.

but he best have some company on the unemployment line.

[madfloridian]

5. For her to imply he was not for veterans...that's painful to read. He was her boss.

Our first priority should be the veterans and at this point whether Secretary Shinseki will stay or go is too much of a distraction. I think he has to go. He certainly loves veterans, but it's time for new leadership, it's time to get someone in who will put veterans first. We've moved away from veterans being the primacy of the conversation. It's now a political discussion and that's now where it should be when it comes to our nation's heroes.

[mopinko]

8. frog march the leave behinds

i ready that a half dozen resignations had already been handed in. i think the point of the gesture is to shame those that lied to him. prolly useless in this day and age, but it meant something once.

[Jakes Progress]

12. The distraction was the goal.

It would cost money and will to correct the problem. Easier to create a shiny resignation and shaming to distract the populace and avoid having to do anything about the real problem.

[OnyxCollie]

25. +1

It's not going away.

[MohRokTah]

6. Two Words: Political Cover

It's an election year.

[madfloridian]

7. I know.

It still bothers me.

[sabrina 1]

9. The war mongers win again. Shinseki was a HERO during the Bush years, but when the war criminals

feel they are being insulted, as they were when Shinseki was nominated for this position, they have LOOOONG memories and Dems are not known lately for standing up for those who stood up to the War Mongers.

What a travesty. Obama should have REFUSED to accept his resignation. Bush would have, in fact he presented HIS torturing General with a MEDAL. Despite the evidence of War Crimes.

When Simpson called all Veterans who were receiving benefits, traitors, and millions of people across the country demanded that Simpson be fired from the Deficit Committee, Obama turned a deaf ear.

Something is very wrong here.

[Gravitycollapse]

10. It was his job to know how his agency operates. He failed to do that.

This appears to be such a serious issue that I can't believe he didn't have at least some sort of suspicion ahead of this scandal. Either way, it's time to find someone better.

[Jakes Progress]

11. Then what are we do to with Obama?

I guess you feel that since he hired the guy and is the Commander in Chief, he should resign. It was his job to know what he was doing. He failed to do that.

Or do you think only underlings should be held accountable?

[Gravitycollapse]

13. That's actually an exceptionally poor comparison.

You should be held accountable for the agency you oversee. For Shinseki, that was the VA. For Obama, that would be the entire US government.

[Jakes Progress]

14. You only think so because it shows how silly your post was.

Or is the VA not a part of the entire US government?

You really can't support your position without saying that you just don't hold Obama responsible for any errors. If Obama hires Shinseki as an administrator and not be held responsible for what he did or didn't do, then why should Shinseki be held responsible for what administrators under him did or did not do? Especially since he didn't hire most of them.

Look. Obama and the congress were just looking for a scapegoat to ease their heat. They decided that the American public (including a number here on DU) were dumb enough to be coddled by this public shaming. Now they don't really have to do anything about this anytime soon. They will just say "Hey we got rid of the guy responsible" even thought they know better. They just figured to take the heat off of themselves. Republicans voted down the support for veterans over and over. This lets them off the hook. Why does our president protect them over and over?

[Gravitycollapse]

15. I do hold Obama accountable for errors and in this case he is also culpable.

But he isn't the head of the VA. And the two positions, being the head of the VA and being the President of the United States, are hardly comparable. Even if Obama was responsible for the oversight of the head of the VA, he has a vast array of other responsibilities.

Shinseki had no greater responsibility. He may have been the scapegoat for other political leaders, but he is hardly undeserving of losing his job.

[m-lekktor]

18. i find your comments in this thread persuasive.

I didn't follow his career and was ready to feel bad for him. i also don't see what his being against the iraq war has to do with his job performance at the VA. i find that beside the point.

[madfloridian]

20. He was not against the war. He called for doing it responsibly.

While Rummy said "you go to war with the army you have" (that's a joke as Iraq was a lie)....Shinseki pleaded for enough troops and resources.

There is a series of articles at the National Journal.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/defense/who-really-broke-veterans-affairs-20140520

Of course Shinseki had to go. That's the way of the world. The Republicans hold back resources and the Democrats take the blame.

They could stand up and fight but they might lose their re-elections.

[Jakes Progress]

29. This is the problem with Shinseki going.

First it diverts attention from the culpability of those truly responsible.

Second is that by accepting the resignation, the president is once more allowing republicans to have it both ways. Scratch that. Not allowing, but enabling.

I'm already a cynical mess, but I don't like the idea that the American public is so far gone, so stupid, and so totally lost as a cause as to believe that a president with Obama's touted rhetoric skills couldn't make the case. Sure the yahoo right, the knuckle dragging buffoons of the tea party and their evil leaders will attack him for it, but they will attack him regardless of what he does. They will never vote for him, or any Democrat. Screw them. Make the case to the people that might vote for you if you show you are thoughtful and steadfast. By quailing under the slightest idea that boener might say something bad, the president tells the public that Democrats were the ones guilty of ignoring veterans (which, of course they are guilty of - but not by themselves).

I think by this action, the president is following the advice of his political elite in assuming the stupidity and ignorance of the American people. That is the whole game plan for the republicans. Don't we have anything better to offer?

[Jakes Progress]

30. See post 29.

[madfloridian]

16. Thoughtful article by Timothy Noah at MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/shinseki-resignation-veterans-affairs-scandal

Erik Shinseki, who resigned Friday as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, first came to prominence for stating too bluntly the cost of war. He now leaves office because the VA was unable to manage that cost.

.....Another reason to question how widespread the scheduling problem may be is that a 2013 survey conducted outside the agency found VA hospital customer satisfaction, at 82%, only one percentage point below the private-sector average. VA hospitals even received an 81% ranking for “accessibility.” If veterans all over the country were incensed about interminable wait times, one would not expect these scores to be so high.

But if the jury’s still out on whether long VA wait times for doctors occur nationwide, no such doubt exists about the long delays veterans are experiencing to receive disability benefits. Since 2000, VA disability payments have almost doubled, from $15 billion to more than $35 billion annually. Yet the backlog of pending disability claims stands at 344,000. Shinseki actually presided over a drastic reduction in that backlog—it was 611,000 claims a year ago. Still, 344,000 is a lot of disability claims.

.....This is the cost of war that Shinseki can’t manage, nor anyone else: Half the people who go to war today come back damaged in the VA’s official estimation. So high a human toll is a fact that the U.S. has yet to come to terms with.

[hack89]

19. It is VA dishonesty and corruption that led to this mess

Yes, we know that the VA does not have the resources to do their jobs. Lying and fabricating reports to protect executive performance bonuses is not the solution.

[spanone]

17. they are concerned about keeping their jobs....little else.

[madfloridian]

21. Yes, being sure not to offend any who might vote in November.

It's a cycle...vote not to offend. Get elected...keep voting not to offend. Nothing gets done.

[panader0]

22. Ron Barber, my congressman.

He's running against Martha McSally. He must feel he has to look tough on this issue. I think Shinseki is being sacrificed, but as others have noted, he should have been more aware.




"Martha McSally


Martha E. McSally is a retired United States Air Force colonel. She was the first American woman to fly in combat since the 1991 lifting of the prohibition of women in combat, flying the A-10 over Iraq and Kuwait."




en.wikipedia.org

[Octafish]

23. They should've used the opportunity to necklace the GOP.

Unfortunately, our Team is relegated to play the role of the Washington Generals. And, when it comes to anything that has anything to do with money or power, the Globetrotters always win.

[madfloridian]

24. It would have been a great opportunity.

The nay votes were straight down the party line.

[MADem]

26. How many are up for reelection?

Shinseki fell on his sword for the king.

He didn't want to be a distraction.

He's a good man.

[pansypoo53219]

27. the GNEWZ MEdia formed a lynch mob w/ the GOP.

[malletgirl02]

28. VA Scandel

When I first heard of the scandal at the VA, I thought the only thing that would happen that some people would be fired, and there would be no real change in terms of overhauling the system or an increase in funding, turns out I was right.

[Jakes Progress]

31. Still riding tax payer jets to vacations.

Still pocketing money and perks from medical suppliers.

The officers who filed false reports - even the ones who thought up and ordered the scam - will go on to retirement riches that the American worker can never dream of.

Shinseki took the bullet so this could go on.