Supposedly ‘Mad As Hell’ Obama Was Warned About VA Wait Problems Way Back in 2008; UPDATE: First Heard of Scandal from Newspapers!!
Over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough suggested that Obama was “mad as hell” over the Veteran’s Affairs scandal, but the Washington Times has obtained information that completely undermines any notion that the administration took it seriously at all:
Veterans Affairs officials warned the Obama-Biden transition team in the weeks after the 2008 presidential election that the department shouldn’t trust the wait times that its facilities were reporting.
“This is not only a data integrity issue in which [Veterans Health Administration] reports unreliable performance data; it affects quality of care by delaying — and potentially denying — deserving veterans timely care,” the officials wrote.
The briefing materials, obtained by The Washington Times through the Freedom of Information Act, make clear that the problems existed well before Mr. Obama took office, dating back at least to the Bush administration. But the materials raise questions about what actions the department took since 2009 to remedy the problems.
It makes you wonder if Obama was “mad as hell” about Veterans dying while waiting for proper healthcare, or if he’s angry that anyone dares to pin this on his administration after providing him cover on every other scandal. After all, Democrats have been trying to say that the VA did a “pretty good job.” Somehow, the VA spent millions under Obama on improving their own offices while Veterans waited for care.
Despite all of that, he’s “mad as hell” and will get to the bottom of the scandal. Just like he was angry about Benghazi and promised to bring the terrorists to justice, until eventually “dude, that was two years ago” became the last word on that scandal.
UPDATE:
I can’t believe this… the White House Press Secretary actually said today that Obama heard about the scandal from newspaper reports.. again. Even though he was warned since before he got into office about the wait times, and many veterans have died since then. Just incredible.
Can the White House at least pretend to give a crap about the duties of the office? And can the press even care one iota when these revelations come out?
