Eric Shinseki is out of a job today because...

[Savannahmann]

84. Sorry, wrong answer.

Secretary Shinseki is out of a job because he had that job for five years while this Criminal Fraud was going on all along under his nose. I might agree he shouldn't have been fired if he'd had the job for a few months, or even perhaps as long as a year. But for five years of his leaderships people got bonus checks, promotions, and raises all for lying about how great they were doing.

Now, there are two possible answers for what Secretary Shinseki was doing all this time. Option A is that Secretary Shinseki was grossly incompetent and did not one time go to any of the VA facilities and actually speak to the Vets he's supposed to represent to find out how they were doing. Not one time in five years did he pop in and say hi, I'm General Shinseki, and I was wondering how you find the process going here today? He had vacations during that time. I'm sure he banged in sick a few times. But he couldn't be bothered to travel to any of these facilities and say hello to the actual vets even once. Undercover Boss may be staged nonsense, but there is always something to be said about taking a look for yourself when you're in charge. So option A in short is gross incompetence, in which case he must be fired.

Option B. Secretary Shinseki suspected, or knew that this fraud was going on and took no action. Option B is obviously the old Blind Eye technique. If he doesn't "officially" know what is going on, he can't be expected to take action. If it is Option B, then Secretary Shinseki had to be fired for failure to carry out the duties of his office.

There is no Option C. You can't argue that he didn't have time to find out what was going on. Five years. He was confirmed on January 20th 2009. Five years he was in charge. He had more than enough time to fully assume responsibility. You can't argue that he is the perfect person to clean up the mess. Because he didn't even learn about it for five years, or he turned a blind eye to it for some portion of that time.

The proper course of action at this time is A. Announce a massive investigation into the criminal actions, I mentioned Criminal Fraud above, when you lie, and get money you have not earned, that is fraud. That is just the surface, there is almost certainly criminal negligence involved. But there is certainly Fraud involved, and that must be investigated fully.

B. Do not name someone who is a policy wonk to the post. Name someone who has the reputation of cleaning up messes. Yesterday, someone mentioned General Honre' of Katrina Fame. Someone like that certainly although he is a tad too Conservative for my tastes. Someone who won't tolerate lies or incompetence and charge them with the single mission of bringing truth and honesty in the treatment of the Vets to the staff. Flatly tell the staff if you don't think this is an important job, then resign immediately. Co-operate with the criminal investigation, and show the remaining staff that liars will not be allowed to retire with their ill gotten gains, but will be prosecuted for their crimes.

Opposing Republicans is certainly important for Democrats. However, it is asinine beyond description to even try to defend the indefensible and excuse the intolerable all for the purpose of opposing Republicans. Some things are so egregious, so outrageous that they must be addressed with all the energy one can muster. This certainly qualifies as one of those situations. If on the other hand, you feel it necessary to defend criminal fraud in an effort to oppose Republicans, I can assure you that the voters will take note, and will not be amused or impressed by your party loyalty. They will see party loyalty trumping even the most basic tenets of human decency. The only way we will ever see single payer is if we hold those who oversee the state run medical facilities fully accountable and insist that the provide the best possible care to those in their charge. Only by refusing to accept less than that the very best will we ever see Single Payer support rise to a majority of the citizens.

This is larger than the VA. It's larger than a few thousand dollars of fraudulently gained bonus checks. This is a battle between right, and wrong, not RW versus Left.

That sir, is the true end, full stop.