Powerful NEW Ad from Veterans for Bernie Sanders

[snagglepuss]

?t=7

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That was beautifully done.

K&R

[awake]

3. Bernie clearly is the best candidate to go up against Trump

[Dragonfli]

4. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, snagglepuss.

[madokie]

6. This old Vietnam Vet

supports Bernie Sanders for President. I realized within a few days of arriving in country Vietnam that what we were doing there was wrong and have been doing my best to make it right with our Vietnamese Citizens since I got home 16 months after arriving in their home land. I spend 15 months in country Vietnam. I got a free 30 day leave and came home is why there is that 1 month discrepancy in what I've stated here. Oh I could say I spent 16 months in 'Nam but the fact I came home for 1 month during that time is why I say I'm a 15 month Vietnam Vet.

Under Bernie's Watch we will not have another Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan or any one of the other Wars. Bernie, like myself, is a peaceful person and believe that through education and diplomacy all problems can be solved.

War is an admission of failure --- David Maner

[Demsrule86]

7. Really?

Bernie did a lousy job with the vet committee.

"As accusations flood the Department of Veterans Affairs over systemic, severe wrongdoing at VA medical centers across the country, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has made a series of puzzling public statements that appear to defend the government hospital bureaucracy.

The string of statements began on May 15, when Sanders appeared on CNN for an interview with Chris Cuomo.

After urging media to remain neutral over claims that 40 U.S. veterans died at the Phoenix VA while waiting to receive care, Sanders said, “The allegation is not that the delay in care caused that, only that that is what is now being investigated.”

“Did the delay in care of these people on the secret waiting list actually cause these deaths? We don’t know,” Sanders said.

Elsewhere, Sanders appeared to gloat over the Veterans Affairs health care system, saying “the VA holds up as good or better than private hospitals. By and large, veterans throughout America believe that they’re getting pretty good health care.”

At one point, the CNN host replied, “Is it unfair criticism, senator, to say that you sound like a lawyer defending the hospital as opposed to a senator trying to make sure the right thing is done?”

[bvar22]

11. Can you refute any of the statements made by Bernie?

*Sanders said, “The allegation is not that the delay in care caused that, only that that is what is now being investigated.”
Like Sanders, I am glad this is being investigated.

*“Did the delay in care of these people on the secret waiting list actually cause these deaths? We don’t know,” Sanders said.
Again, he tells the truth.

*Sanders said: "“the VA holds up as good or better than private hospitals. By and large, veterans throughout America believe that they’re getting pretty good health care.”

I personally have friends that served in Vietnam, Reagans phony wars, and been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The majority agree with Sanders. Everyone bitches about having to receive Medical care, but to the last one, ALL those I know who go to the VA tell me they pity me having to use the For Profit system.

More than one time, I have been the "designated driver" who chauffeured these brave vets to the VA and waited while they received treatment, and drove them home. The wait times were less than I experienced in the For Profit system, and the facilities were clean and comfortable, and the staff proficient. We always walked out NO Charge, but stopped by the window that gave us a check for mileage.

I am sure there are bad facilities, but, as Sanders said, by and large, the totally Socialist VA system "holds up as good or better than private hospitals."
I can show you same rancid, incompetent, private For Profit Health Care Providers
that far exceed the worst offenses uncovered at the VA, especially in Assisted Living.

At the very least, Bernie is NOT responsible for the completely wasted deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers, and the maiming of many thousands more, unlike our other candidate.

Lets keep things in their proper perspective.

[Demsrule86]

16. I can refute them...with a link

"Bernie Sander's tenure as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was characterized by glaring neglect of his oversight responsibilities, allowing the 2014 VA scandal to unfold under his watch, veterans’ rights advocates argue.
Sanders has touted his work on veterans’ issues, most recently citing his involvement in “the most comprehensive VA health care bill in this country,” in a debate Thursday.
Left unsaid however, is that he was the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, responsible for overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the scandal erupted.
Dozens of veterans died while waiting for medical care at Phoenix Veterans Health Administration facilities, a scandal CNN broke in the spring of 2014. The imbroglio spread with reports of secret waiting lists at other VA hospitals, possibly leading to dozens more preventable deaths. He held one-sixth of the hearings on oversight that his House of Representatives counterpart held. Republicans griped that they had made multiple requests for more oversight hearings, but received no response. A news host even challenged Sanders as the scandal erupted, saying he sounded more like a lawyer for the VA than the man responsible for overseeing it.
“We feel that he did not live up to his responsibilities as SVAC chairman to provide oversight into this. He keeps hiding behind the mantle [of the title]. And yes, he did pass the $15 billion piece of legislation, but that’s… akin to closing the barn door after the chickens have escaped,” said Matthew Miller, the chief policy officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
By the time the scandal broke, Sanders had been chairman for more than a year. While the House VA committee held 42 hearings on VA oversight, the Senate VA committee chaired by Sanders held only about seven hearings on the matter."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html

I guess he was too busy to hold hearings...guys died and more than in Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi.

[bvar22]

28. You refuted NONE of th bullet points I posted.

Instead, you have referenced Republicans and their "allegations" repeated in the Media.
There are long "wait times" at our For Profit Providers too.
Have those led to deaths? we don't know.
Many of the procedures provided by the VA are not life threatening either.

The VA has a good triage system.Sanders is correct:

“Did the delay in care of these people on the secret waiting list actually cause these deaths? We don’t know,” Sanders said.

With all the allegation made by Republicans and breathless News Talking Heads, have the found ANY deaths or harm done to vets by this? You can be sure they looked and are looking....but so far have found nothing.

Again, Sanders is NOT responsible for the over 4,000 deaths and the many thousands of horrible permanent maiming of our soldiers like the other candidate,
and those are DOCUMENTED.
What you and the Republicans are accusing Sanders of PALES in comparison....
not even in the same zip code.

[Rebkeh]

8. Great video, thanks for sharing nt

[KittyWampus]

9. Sanders was on the Veterans Affairs Committee while the scandal erupted and DRAGGED HIS FEET

on hearings while Veterans were dying/delayed treatment.

He used the asinine canard the problem was non-existent and a Koch Bros fiction.

Do I still need to post links to this truth?

Even the NYTimes couldn't make Sanders look good:


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/faith-in-agency-clouded-bernie-sanderss-va-response.html?_r=0

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html

[tabasco]

14. You sound like one of the republicans who blew the "scandal" far out of proportion.

Desperate to make Obama look bad, they exploited serious problems at an Arizona VA facility to condemn Obama and the entire VA system. As a result, we lost one of the best ever VA secretaries, Erik Shinseki. This is the same thing republicans are doing in their quest to dismantle the VA and privatize (i.e., completely fuck up) veteran health care.

The "scandal" was a fucking fiction.

[Demsrule86]

17. If Bernie had done shis job and held

more than 7 hearing...maybe that could have been prevented.

[tabasco]

18. And if Clinton had urged Democrats to vote against the trumped up Iraq war

instead of urging them to vote for war, we might have a lot more living soldiers who could have become veterans instead of bodies.

[Demsrule86]

19. some of those vets

served in Afghanistan which Sanders supported...kind of odd don't you think?

[tabasco]

21. The Afghanistan intervention was justified. The war in Iraq was not.

Afghanistan is where our enemy was located - you know, the people who actually carried out the attack on New York City. While Bin Laden and his soldiers escaped through Tora Bora into Pakistan, U.S. forces were not deployed because they were preparing for the unnecessary and unjust Iraq invasion - the worst foreign policy decision in U.S. history. There was Senator Clinton, speaking on the Senate floor, urging her comrades to support the Iraq invasion - WHILE MY OLD DIVISION WAS ALMOST ALONE in Afghanistan chasing al-qaeda through the Tora Bora valley. Unfortunately, thanks to corrupt imbeciles like Bush and H. Clinton, there were no U.S. forces guarding the other end of the valley (the Pakistan end). The brilliant military strategist, George AWOL Bush, supported by H. Clinton and other strident warmongers, said on national TV that we would rely on our "Pakistani allies" to capture Bin Laden and his forces when they tried to enter Pakistan. ALL OF THE 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION SOLDIERS who died in Tora Bora died in vain, thanks to blundering, corrupt imbeciles like Bush and H. Clinton.

I prefer a Commander in Chief who is able to distinguish between justified military actions and unjustified ones.

Thanks for playing.

[Demsrule86]

22. I disagree

It was not justified. Sanders cherry picks his wars. And we are still there.

[tabasco]

24. Yes, it's called "cherry picking" the wars that are justified

and shit-canning the ones that are not. Just what I want in a Commander in Chief. NATO participated in Afghanistan because it was a justified war, aimed at destroying an enemy that had attacked a member nation. On the other hand, most of our European allies condemned the Iraq invasion because it was clearly unjustified. You don't seem to have very good critical thinking skills, just like Clinton.

H. Clinton doesn't "cherry-pick." She goes along with any trumped up war that the neocons want.

[Demsrule86]

23. Easy to say now

And I still say Bernie's vote for Afghanistan war was wrong...so tough.

[NuclearDem]

25. Typical.

Even before the campaign started, Bernie Sanders' incompetence was really just Hillary's fault!

Believe it or not, not every single veteran fucked over by Bernie's incompetence was an Iraq veteran.

[tabasco]

29. Yes, it's typical for Clinton supporters to overlook her depraved support for the Iraq war

Good point.

[hobbit709]

20. And your candidate was complicit in creating thousands of vets needing care.

[Ferd Berfel]

10. K&R

[Joob]

12. Nothing worse than when you realize you're not fighting for freedom or liberty anymore.

War is never pretty, when you realize you're fighting in one for the wrong reasons it's devastating.
It's a constant battle when you get home, that's why our veteran suicide rate is so high.
And Bernie gave me hope again, he's giving me the war I should have fought for right here.
I can never repay Bernie, but I will fight for the strength he gave me.

[Skwmom]

13. Really powerful and truthful.

[MrMickeysMom]

15. That is a DAMN good message...

Well done because it's from the very center of this special group of people who choose to serve, regardless of what they discover along the way.

[silvershadow]

26. K&R nt

[NewImproved Deal]

27. Thank you!

[link:|

[snowy owl]

30. Thank you. Wish more people could see. Only internet? Our democracy is gone-we are now plutocracy.

We have to get back our democracy . . . if anybody cares. Vote Bernie. He gets it.