Obama knew about VA issues in 2008

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ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
33,620
17,194
136
What, did someone get you an unabridged dictionary for Christmas?

I'm still waiting for you to make a post with some content in it instead of your flailing insults. It is amusing though, you're like an interactive version of the PC game Kingpin.

You mean content like little quips about how the VA has death panels? Only if I could be so cool and able to add such insight!



Lol
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,268
126
Keep working at it, Gipper.

I have him on ignore. Is he still butthurt because Obama's honor is being questioned? It should be on a daily basis. But the VA is a form of UHC and that means it's automatically good so there's that.
 

ivwshane

Lifer
May 15, 2000
33,620
17,194
136
Keep working at it, Gipper.

Another good one! /s "Gipper", as in your hero, Ronald Reagan? Thanks but no thanks;) try another one, hack!

I have him on ignore. Is he still butthurt because Obama's honor is being questioned? It should be on a daily basis. But the VA is a form of UHC and that means it's automatically good so there's that.

Lol! Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum giving each other a handi!

You have me on ignore because you are a little bitch who can't take criticism and can't handle being wrong.

"Automatically good"? How's the straw taste that you are spitting out?
 

Mursilis

Diamond Member
Mar 11, 2001
7,756
11
81
Or that it's hard to beat free, even when it's inconvenient.

Which is a huge part of the problem - resources which are essentially free tend to be overused.

I don't doubt that he was trying to improve things at VA, but someone had to fall on his sword and Shinseki was the one making false reports to the President. Gibson starts with something Shinseki lacked - a widespread acknowledgement that the VA is rotten. Hopefully Gibson has been in trace long enough to already know which asses to start kicking ass and where to look for the next batch of foot-deficient posteriors once he's done with those. Gibson can do things now that had Shinseki done earlier would have caused a great hue and cry. And while Gibson is not a long time combat soldier as is Shinseki, his private sector experience is as a banking exec, not a director. That's a much more hands-on position than is a directorship, plus one probably gets a lot more experience with people attempting to lie as a banker than as a military officer.

With Gibson's limited military experience I'm guessing he probably won't be nominated for the top spot, but that might be just as well. Means he can dig as aggressively as he likes without worrying overmuch about whom he pisses off.

I wouldn't hold my breath too much on Gibson making huge improvements. Large gov't organizations are inherently inefficient. VA is just another huge bureaucracy answering to too many masters and tasked with too many goals and not nearly enough resources.
 

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
Another good one! /s "Gipper", as in your hero, Ronald Reagan? Thanks but no thanks;) try another one, hack!



Lol! Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum giving each other a handi!

You have me on ignore because you are a little bitch who can't take criticism and can't handle being wrong.

"Automatically good"? How's the straw taste that you are spitting out?

No, he has you on ignore because all you do is fling insults.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Which is a huge part of the problem - resources which are essentially free tend to be overused.

I wouldn't hold my breath too much on Gibson making huge improvements. Large gov't organizations are inherently inefficient. VA is just another huge bureaucracy answering to too many masters and tasked with too many goals and not nearly enough resources.
For your first point, I agree but the VA aggressively rations via accessibility both temporally and geographically. For your second, I tend to agree but Kliver actually made some pretty impressive results. Gibson (or whomever takes the reins) needs to thoroughly understand that this must be an ongoing battle as the bureaucracy will continually seek to degrade improvements in efficiency.
 

MooseNSquirrel

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2009
2,587
318
126
Still see people claiming that the VA's problems are a lack of funding.



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...are-funding-than-it-can-spend-for-fifth-year/

The VA also has lots of job openings it is not filling:



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ted-at-va-hospitals-clinics-as-scandal-grows/

This looks like a management problem within the VA. There's no real reason to look further. (More funding won't help if you cannot spend what you've already got.)

Fern

Id love to see 2 things:

1. How much planning went on back in 2001/2003(in particular) to deal with the eventual demands on the VA.

2. Who created the current incentive system for VA management

From what I have read the problems at the VA have been systemic for many years (20+) and created a system just not ready for the influx of Iraq and Afgan vets.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Id love to see 2 things:

1. How much planning went on back in 2001/2003(in particular) to deal with the eventual demands on the VA.

2. Who created the current incentive system for VA management

From what I have read the problems at the VA have been systemic for many years (20+) and created a system just not ready for the influx of Iraq and Afgan vets.
For the first, I'm guessing nearly none. For the second, Kliver, under Clinton. However, it worked for awhile, until the bureaucracy found ways around it and the ways around it became institutionalized.
 

davmat787

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2010
5,512
24
76
You realize that the Washington Times was created explicitly to be a very conservative newspaper by Sun Myung Moon, right?

Do you think if Obama was a Republican that the media would have responded in the same manner the past 5 years, all else equal?
 

MooseNSquirrel

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2009
2,587
318
126
For the first, I'm guessing nearly none. For the second, Kliver, under Clinton. However, it worked for awhile, until the bureaucracy found ways around it and the ways around it became institutionalized.

I think its just more proof that you can run Government like a private enterprise.

A bureaucracy needs to be effective before it is efficient, and unfortunately many people going into government seem to favor the latter over the former.