V.A. Scandal: Larry Kudlow Gets It, John Thune Doesn't

by JASmius

Or, more to the point, Mr. Kudlow understands why the V.A. scandal happened and what it means for the future of American health care, while Senator Thune is still stuck in the starting gate.

Calling deadly treatment delays and falsified waiting lists at veterans hospitals "a national embarrassment," Senator John Thune of South Dakota told Newsmax TV on Thursday that President Barack Obama hasn't shown he even comprehends the scale of the problem or the urgency needed to fix it. 

"The president should have been leading the charge to fix this problem and he's been, as usual, you know, following along," Thune said during an extended, two-part interview on "America's Forum" with hosts J.D. Hayworth and John Bachman.

First, O doesn't care about "this problem" because veterans are not one of his constituencies, and most of them are conservatives, and therefore of the "wrong tribe," and their lives are expendable.  And since the media are part of the "right tribe," there'll never be any genuine pressure on him to "lead the charge" about "this problem".  Second, "this problem" can't be "fixed" without completely "transforming" the operating paradigm of the V.A. (see below).

By contrast, Thune said, the White House response so far has amounted to the president "talking tough" at a press conference on Wednesday and dispatching one aide to a troubled VA facility.

i.e. The IRS Protocol: (1) claim that you didn't know a thing about [insert name of scandal here] until you read about it in the newspapers or saw it on CNN; (2) express your "outrage" and "anger" and vehemently declare that you "won't rest" until you "get to the bottom of [insert name of scandal here]'; (3) do nothing and wait for the brief media attention to pass; (4) easily stonewall frustrated Republican attempts to actually get to the bottom of the scandal you claimed you would; (5) If there's an "aftershock" at a later time, blow it off on the grounds that it's "old news" and assure everybody that there was "absolutely nothing" to it; (6) wonder off to the White House residence to play more Galaga.

When they had the problems with the healthcare Web site rollout, they said, 'We've got all hands on the deck,'" he said. "They spent hundreds of millions of dollars to try and fix it. And they ought to treat this issue with the same seriousness. This is the men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line, who risk everything for us, and they deserve a much more serious response than what they're getting from their commander-in-chief."

What, Senator Thune, makes you think the Regime took the ObamaCare rollout disaster any more seriously than they did the VA "problem"?  They had three and a half years and billions of Ben Bernacke dollars to get ready for that rollout, still FUBAR'd it, didn't pick up any pace since then, and it's still FUBAR'd.  Though nobody seems to realize it, it cost Kathleen Sebelius her job.  I understand the contrast you're trying to create, but you're effectively portraying ObamaCare as the success the Regime wants everybody to believe it is when it most emphatically is not.  Which is just another indication that you don't really grasp the core of the V.A. "problem".

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are doing their robotic duty to ensure that the public never does either:

Thune urged the president to be better engaged by supporting two pieces of legislation: Thune's bill for an independent VA probe, and a second bill that would make it easier for Shinseki to fire senior VA officials found to be involved in the scandal.

The second bill was blocked by Senate Democrats on Thursday, according to the Washington Times, although it was passed overwhelmingly in the House on Wednesday in a bipartisan vote with 390 members supporting it. It was opposed by 33 House members, all Democrats.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida brought the House-passed VA Management Accountability Act to the Senate floor on Thursday seeking its approval before Congress recesses, according to the Blaze.

"I've come to this floor here today to give my colleagues the opportunity to send this to the president before we leave for the Memorial Day recess," Rubio said, the Blaze reported. "We have an opportunity right now to take up the bill that the House just passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, enact it into law by unanimous consent, and send it to the president so he can sign it."

But Senate Democrats and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, told Rubio he was moving too fast. Sanders said he'd hold a hearing on the bill when the Senate reconvenes in late June, the Blaze reported.

Why didn't Senate Donks block the first Thune bill?  Easy: guess who appoints special prosecutors (or "independent probers," if you prefer)?  Eric "The Red" Holder, who has already said he won't make any such appointment in the V.A. "problem".  Why did they block the second Thune bill?  It wouldn't "fix" the "problem," but it would at least create the appearance of greater honesty, transparency, and accountability - you know, the hallmarks on which these Democrats rode to power eight years ago - and that's the last thing on Earth they need at the V.A. as long as their demigod is still in charge of it.  So out rolls the "Republicans playing politics" canard, even though everybody knows that were the roles reversed, those same Dems would have already thundered forth vicious fatwas against the GOP president who had "murdered our veterans," and be exploiting it to push "health care reform".

Amazingly enough, "everybody" does not appear to include their Republican "colleagues":

Rubio, House Speaker John Boehner, and other Republicans said the decision was clearly wrong because the Senate could have moved forward on the VA scandal just before Memorial Day....

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he was "surprised to see the Senate Democrats block this important, bipartisan bill," according to the Washington Times report. "There's no reason for us not to pass it quickly here in the Senate."

No practical reason, no.  And your Donk enemies - oh, sorry, "friends" - do not operate off of practicality, Mitchy.  You've been in the Senate for thirty years, and you still haven't figured this out?

Or that the V.A. scandal is not a scandal in the sense of IRSgate, Fast & Furious, Solyndra, the AP, Benghazigate, etc.?  Because what distinguishes the V.A. from all the other Obama Regime racketeering activities is that it is not a distinct "bug," but a systemic "feature," as Larry Kudlow echoes me in pointing out:

The scandal rocking the Veterans Health Administration should serve as a warning as to what can happen under the [Una]ffordable Care[-Less] Act, renowned economist and syndicated columnist Larry Kudlow says.

This is not simply a management problem," Kudlow, author of the CNBC[CCP] blog "Kudlow's Corner,'' told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"This is about a pocket of government-run socialized medicine with rationing and price controls and the usual bureaucratic inefficiencies. That's the problem with the VA.''....

"It is not a money problem. The money going to the VA has exploded in recent years. In fact, from 2000 to 2013, budget outlays tripled while the veterans' population being served has actually declined by four million,'' Kudlow said.

"There's a problem with government-run healthcare and [this] should be a lesson to all of us about the dangers of ObamaCare and single-payer insurance and so forth and so on."

You want to "fix" the V.A., Senator Thune?  Introduce a bill to privatize it.  Then repeal ObamaCare.  As long as healthcare remains unconstitutionally in the federal "portfolio," it will never be "fixed," and will always and ever be a political, as opposed to "management," problem.