Sanders stretched truth on VA record during debate, some vets say

[Liberal_in_LA]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Warren Stupidity (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: cnn

Sen. Bernie Sanders touted his record on veterans' issues during Tuesday's debate, citing his position as the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs when Congress provided billions of extra dollars to boost healthcare for veterans last year.

"We went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care to the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend us," Sanders said Tuesday, referring to $15 billion given to the Department of Veterans Affairs to decrease wait times and reform the troubled agency.

Yet some veterans groups and others criticize Sanders for what they call a lack of oversight of the VA, and for at times coming to its defense in the midst of the scandal that rocked the agency in 2014.

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Sanders largely ignored the appeals of organizations like his during a time when media and government reports exposed how veterans were waiting months for appointments and VA officials were covering up the delays.

"For far too long he was apologizing for the VA. He was refusing to acknowledge the severity. He was positioning it as a smaller issue than it was while veterans were dying waiting for care," Rieckhoff told CNN.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/14/politics/bernie-sanders-va/index.html

[Renew Deal]

1. He also stretched it on his patriot act vote

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. so he's not totally mr. goody two shoes

[orpupilofnature57]

5. To extend provisions ? he was 1 of 18 Democrats who voted No .

[elmac]

3. But we must remember

that the purse strings are held buy the obstructionist republicans but good job trying to swift-boat Bernie.

[PSPS]

4. What a crock

Sanders was resisting the GOP push to abolish/privatize/voucherize the whole VA system. He was trying to fix the damn mess instead of exploiting it as a means to spin it off to the billionaire cronies of the GOP. But leave it to the corporate/state media to spin a yarn out of whole cloth. It's no surprise their "opinion shopping" led them to Paul Rieckhoff, a rather questionable character as discussed here:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/28698-american-propagander-six-ways-paul-reickhoff-s-american-sniper-column-deeply-bothers-this-american-veteran

[orpupilofnature57]

6. + 1000 for Courage and Vision !!!!!!!

[840high]

7. +100

[Plucketeer]

8. We've known this was coming

"this" being the roaches being chased from beneath the furniture in sleazy attempts to tarnish our guy. With what's a stake, the front-runner can expect to have all sorts of shit thrown his way. We see it EVERY election cycle and should expect nothing less this time around.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Locking.

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