PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland -- President Obama Wednesday replayed a familiar scenario when dealing with scandal, in this case delays for treatment, deaths, alleged cover-ups and other acts of malfeasance reported at Veterans Administration hospitals in the United States: first express outrage, next announce an investigation and then say he won't comment on the scandal until the results of the investigation are in, promising people will be held "accountable," if they violated the law. Good luck with that.
Veterans Affairs
Hypocrisy: Maddow Calls VA Scandal Merely 'Problem in Progress'; Bush-era Walter Reed Fiasco Was 'Scandal'
By Connor Williams | May 22, 2014 | 5:30 PM EDT
Call it partisan hypocrisy in progress. Last night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow furiously spun the VA hospital waiting-list scandal as merely a “problem in progress.”
That was radically different from her reaction to the 2007 Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal, which involved shoddy, run-down accommodations for injured servicemen (MP3 audio here; video below).
In a Month, TV News Gives Less Airtime to VA Scandal Than Christie Controversy Received in Four Days
By Scott Whitlock | May 22, 2014 | 4:22 PM EDT In nearly four and a half weeks, the ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening news shows have offered 110 minutes to an evolving Obama administration scandal involving secret lists designed to keep veterans from receiving proper medical treatment. Back in January, it took those same network shows just four and a half days to churn that much coverage for Chris Christie's Bridgegate.
Since the VA story broke on April 23 with the news that as many as 40 veterans seeking treatment at one Phoenix facility died while on secret waiting lists, CBS has provided the most coverage, 48 minutes and 46 seconds. NBC allowed 44 minutes and 53 seconds and ABC came in last with a scant 16 minutes and 44 seconds. None of the networks bothered covering the story until May 6, almost two weeks after it broke. (This is despite heavy investigative reporting by Fox News and CNN.)
By Jackie Seal | May 22, 2014 | 12:31 PM EDT
Yesterday morning, President Obama made an overdue statement regarding the widening VA scandal. That afternoon, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney held his regularly scheduled Press Briefing. Understandably so, the briefing dealt primarily with the president’s statement and handling of the aforementioned scandal.
The real fireworks took place about halfway through the briefing when Jay Carney took questions from ABC Chief White House correspondent, Jon Karl. Karl spent roughly five minutes grilling the press secretary on the President’s handling or lack thereof of the recent events. For this the reporter was rewarded by his network with no air time on the Wednesday edition of World News.
NBC's 'Today' Gives More Time to Malia Obama Driving Than VA Scandal; ABC's 'GMA' Edits Out Criticism of President
By Kyle Drennen | May 22, 2014 | 10:55 AM EDT
A day after President Obama finally reacted to the Veteran's Affair scandal after weeks of silence, NBC's Today could only manage a couple news briefs on the development, totaling forty-seven seconds. Meanwhile, the morning show devoted one minute and nineteen seconds to First Daughter Malia Obama learning to drive this summer.
ABC's Good Morning America at least provided a full report on the VA scandal, but edited out any criticism of Obama. On Wednesday's World News, correspondent Jim Avila included a soundbite from a family member of a veteran who died waiting for care who accused the President of "lying" about the scandal. However, that clip vanished from Avila's GMA report Thursday morning.
By Tom Blumer | May 22, 2014 | 10:11 AM EDT
In discussing President Obama's Wednesday press conference on the Veterans Administration wait-list scandal, CNN's Drew Griffin, identified by the network's Jake Tapper as "the reporter who began this whole story with his investigation into the Phoenix VA," appeared to barely contain himself as he described the "disconnect between what's happening out here in the country and what the president is talking about."
Specifically, Griffin asserted that "this problem is real; it exists; it really doesn't have to be studied," and that "the vets I've been talking to wanted much more direct action." Griffin clearly expected a far more substantive and immediate response from Obama yesterday, and was disappointed that it didn't come. The video segment (via the Washington Free Beacon), a transcript, and Rush Limbaugh's insightful reaction follow the jump (bolds are mine throughout this post):
By Laura Flint | May 22, 2014 | 9:45 AM EDT
It seems even the president’s most steadfast supporters in the liberal media are unsure how to react to Mr. Obama’s May 21 remarks on the Department of Veterans Affairs secret waiting-list scandal. The three major liberal news networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, interrupted their normal programming to broadcast Obama’s first remarks on the VA controversy since the story broke almost a month ago.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – a former Clinton White House operative – attempted to spin the speech in a more positive light as Obama’s “most forceful sayings [sic] yet,” when, in reality, it was the president’s first and only statement on the four week old scandal. The anchors of NBC and CBS were less impressed. [See video below. Click here for audio]
By Matthew Balan | May 21, 2014 | 11:35 PM EDT
Wednesday's World News on ABC minimized any sense of the Obama administration's responsibility in the ongoing V.A. scandal, and spent the least amount of air time on the issue among the Big Three networks' evening newscasts. The program actually aired segments on pickpocketing and custom mobile homes than lasted about a half a minute longer each than their report on the scandal.
Diane Sawyer spotlighted how the President "weighed in – talking tough and talking action" on the "growing outrage over veterans hospitals." Jim Avila noted how multiple V.A. medical facilities in several states are now being investigated, and let the relative of deceased veteran decry the President's handling of the scandal. However, he didn't mention that the wait lists have been around for years – something that CBS Evening News mentioned in its coverage of the controversy: [MP3 audio from the ABC report available here; video below the jump]
By Kyle Drennen | May 21, 2014 | 4:41 PM EDT
During a panel discussion on her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Wednesday, host Andrea Mitchell wondered why President Obama chose to make a statement on the Veteran's Affairs scandal without having any significant reforms to announce: "Why send the President out to say something about the VA when he's not ready to take bolder action?" [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
Chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd acknowledged: "Well, this was an attempt, I think, to stop the political bleeding that was taking place....that this has become a political problem for the White House. The President himself hadn't spoken on it publicly since [his trip to] Asia...about three, four weeks ago. So there needed to be a sense of he had to come out and say something."
By Geoffrey Dickens | May 21, 2014 | 4:14 PM EDT
Stacey Dash absolutely demolished Barack Obama on the VA scandal. Appearing on FNC’s Outnumbered, on Wednesday, the outspoken actress called out the President for not keeping his campaign promise to veterans and also took a shot at his signature accomplishment ObamaCare.
First up Dash questioned Obama’s commitment to veterans when she noted that when he was Senator he “missed 19 out of 37 ” veterans affairs committee meetings and slammed “he was told in 2008 this was a problem” and “he did nothing about it!” Then Dash really lowered the boom when she made the obvious connection to ObamaCare. (video after the jump)
By Mark Finkelstein | May 21, 2014 | 9:05 AM EDT
Red Alert at the White House! How bad is the VA scandal? Bad enough to make even such as Sam Stein question liberalism. The VA scandal is getting so grievous for the Obama admin and for the liberal project at large that it has led even liberals to reconsider their most cherished ideological beliefs.
On today's Morning Joe, Sam Stein of the Huffington Post wondered "is liberalism, is progressivism, in this instance the right thing" given that the additional money the Obama admin spent on the VA has not yielded results? View the video after the jump.
By Jeffrey Meyer | May 20, 2014 | 7:15 PM EDT
ABC has failed to cover exclusive reporting from its own Jonathan Karl, ABC News’ Chief White House Correspondent, when he caught White House Press Secretary Jay Carney distorting the American Legion’s position on the VA controversy.
For the second night in a row, ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer ignored the latest in the scandal engulfing the Veterans Administration. On Monday, May 19, the Washington Times released documents that showed the Obama Administration was warned about the problems surrounding the VA as early as 2009, yet ABC has yet to cover these revelations.