As I mentioned earlier this week, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) used the Memorial Day weekend news dump to call out the nation’s major veterans service groups for not demanding that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resign in the wake of revelations about the quality of care at VA medical centers. Burr claimed that those groups who haven’t called for Shinseki’s ouster are more concerned about their relationship with him than the welfare of their members.
In response, three of those groups–Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Disabled American Veterans–fired off letters of their own that rightly denounced Burr’s statement as an ugly, unwarranted, and craven cheap shot. They were joined on Tuesday by the Vietnam Veterans of America, which called Burr’s letter “insulting” and “blatantly false.”
Yesterday, Burr, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, let it be known he isn’t backing down one inch from that letter. Far from it.
In an email to Politico, Burr actually doubled down on his claim that the veterans groups were showing their true colors by not calling for Shinseki to go. To Burr’s mind, the angry responses from the VFW, Paralyzed Veterans and DAV showed they were “far more outraged by my words than they have been about the VA scandal or Secretary Shinseki’s mismanagement of the agency.” He then loudly wondered:
?How many Inspector General, Special Counsel, GAO, and Medical Inspector reports does it take to spur outrage and prompt action?”
Burr’s reaction isn’t entirely surprising. I expected him to take the line that the veterans groups’ senior leaders were out of touch with the rank-and-file. But Burr may want to have a look at the Facebook pages for the VFW, Paralyzed Veterans and DAV. Most of the comments at those pages denounced Burr’s statement and applauded the national leaderships for calling Burr out.
He also may want to have a look at his own Facebook page; when he posted a link to his open letter, most of the commenters there came to the same conclusion as the VFW, Paralyzed Veterans and DAV–that it was a city mile beneath the dignity of a United States Senator.
Let’s be perfectly clear–the evidence spelled out in yesterday’s report from the VA Inspector General is absolutely ghastly, and certainly puts this snafu in “what did they know and when did they know it” territory for a lot of people at the VA. But Burr apparently either doesn’t know or refuses to understand that this is a systemic problem that won’t magically disappear with Shinseki’s resignation or firing. Moreover, Burr’s outrage looks very disingenuous when put next to his numerous votes against veterans’ interests. If I had to choose whether to believe Burr or the veterans groups, my money would be on the veterans groups. After all, they’re actually working to find constructive solutions to this mess.
Edited/Published by: SB
Darrell Lucus is a radical lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
