VA backlog started under Bush

Well, well, well, and well. What do we have here?

It seems that yet more evidence has surfaced proving that the Veterans Administration scandal - which the right-wing media tries to blame President Obama for - is actually the fault of George W. Bush.

Even Mother Jones magazine - which has otherwise largely abandoned its progressive legacy - has an article describing how the scandal started under Bush. Bush knew about the backlogs and secret waiting lists but refused to do anything about them.

In essence, Bush deliberately gutted the VA just to "prove" public health care doesn't work - thus advancing his political agenda. We already knew he was trying to push this agenda though, thanks to the 2007 scandal involving the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. That facility was not part of the Veterans Health Administration, but it became the site of severe patient neglect during the Bush years. Among other things, the center experienced infestations by rats and cockroaches.

The latest findings reveal that officials in the Bush regime falsified VA records. During this cover-up, one clinic amassed a backlog of over 3,500 patients.

Blaming the Obama administration for this scandal would be like blaming me when a local media outlet undercut its own coverage of what could have been a bombshell story about corporate wrongdoing. Some people would rather point fingers than find solutions.

Bush's involvement in the VA scandal is just another example of the conservative movement doing what it does best. It complains about government, gets into power, and then abuses government positions.