Which doesn’t absolve any of the previous administrations’ ignoring of the existing situation. Quit trying to make Bush a scapegoat for everything gone wrong with this country. There were others before him who contributed just as much, if not more in some cases, than he did.

Except that there were 7 other presidents –
Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush #1, and Clinton – whose track record with VA hospitals is far worse than Bush’s, especially when you consider that the same conditions exist today that existed during the terms of each of every one of these presidents and NONE of them did anything to correct it.

They should ALL be taken to task, not just Bush. He merely inherited problems ignored and/or made worse by his predecessors.

The Bush administration was responsible for making the situation far worse – especially considering the numbers of service personnel that they put in harm’s way by virtue of having lied to justify the reasons for doing so.

In that regard, I encourage you all to look into Operation Helmet. It was started by a Navy surgeon who saw that the helmet suspension and chin strap systems were improper for protecting against brain trauma caused by the cuncussive forces of IEDs. He designed a new system, tailored for both army & marine helmets (they’re different in some ways). The government deigned to go with them, so he set up Operation Helmet to receive donations to supply the new systems to the men & women in the field.

Also, you can rest assured that even though it’s all government health care programs, the level of care that the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches receive is vastly different from what the military or the postal workers get.

Meanwhile – sometimes it’s hard to tell all you anonymous guys apart. Can’t you think up snappy screen names?

Thank you very much for proving the exact point I was attempting to make to Anonymous #5/#9.

Please note that the followong contains only information & no personal invective.

The facts as to the atrocious conditions at Walter Reed is not blather. Neither is the fact that VA advocates were expressly forbidden to advise wounded vets as to all the services and options not just available, but due them as a result of their service incurrred wounds. Further, wounded service personal sent to Ft. Stewart, GA languished in the intense summer heat in un-air conditioned WWII era barrcks on acres of sand & scrub. Some went for weeks and months, according to reports, without any significant treatment for their wounds. Bush, who ran on better treatment for veterans, cut VA funding after gaining the White House. When forced by Congress to restore funding, he claimed it as an increases.
That said, the MediCare legislation that went through under Bush had a prescription drug component that was quite remarkable. The first thing was the inclusion of the infamous “donut hole”, which makes no sense to me. The other was the government decision to not seek negotiated Rx drug rates with the pharmaceutical companies. That deal is at least explainable…the legislation was written by Big Pharma. Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisianna was one of the honchos on the committee. He left congress, even before the legislation was passed, to take a $2,000,000.00 a year job as the head of a DC lobbying firm that represented…class, let’s not always see the same hands…Big Pharma. However, the statement from his office said that no connection should be made between the two events. How much could seniors have saved if the gov’t could negotiate the cost of Rx med’s as do company & Union health care plans?