Fellow Americans and Friends of Veterans,
How much lower can VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald sink in the cesspool of insulting Veterans?
Now he compares Veterans waiting for a doctor’s appointment to waiting in line at Disneyland for an amusement ride.
This ingrate must resign, or President Obama must immediately fire him!!
Mr. McDonald never will be able to live down that remark.
Here is a Congressional Quarterly Roll Call report on what happened this morning:
By Kellie Mejdrich
The secretary of Veterans Affairs at a media breakfast this morning compared veterans’ medical wait times to time spent in line at a Disney theme park. This triggered rebukes from Republicans including the speaker of the House and presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Robert McDonald’s comments came after he was asked by a reporter why the VA would not release a specific type of measure regarding wait times for medical treatment, known as the “create date.” Mr. McDonald prefaced his answer with an explanation that he doesn’t think the number of days until an appointment is a relevant measure. He said the department was working on producing a different type of metric to assess its performance.
“I think to me, to me, personally, and I’m working on this, the days to an appointment is really not what we should be measuring. [What] we should be measuring is the veteran’s satisfaction. I mean, what really counts is how does the veteran feel about their encounter with the VA?”
Mr. McDonald said at the breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
“When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line, or the number, you know – what’s important? What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience. And what I would like to move to eventually is that kind of measure.”
Mr. McDonald’s remarks prompted criticism from House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., who first retweeted a news article mentioning Mr. McDonald’s comments with the admonishment: “This is not make-believe, Mr. Secretary. Veterans have died waiting in those lines.”
Mr. Ryan later put out an email statement blasting Mr. McDonald and the Obama administration.
“This kind of flippant comment shows just how seriously the Obama administration’s VA is taking these life or death problems. And it’s not acceptable,” Ryan said.
Sen. Mark S. Kirk, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Military Construction-VA Committee, also ripped into McDonald in a statement.
“The frustration, fear and helplessness our veterans feel waiting for months to get the health care they need is nothing compared to a day at Disneyland and the Secretary should be embarrassed for making such a comparison,” the Illinois Republican said. “Their ‘satisfaction with the experience’ is substandard time and time again, like at Hines VA where food trays are served with cockroaches and rooms are covered in dangerous mold. The Secretary should apologize for his tone deaf comments and show more respect for the men and women he is supposed to be serving.”
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, blasted Mr. McDonald.
“It’s very troubling that the top official is still downplaying problems at the VA after every scandal and problem there. If the VA secretary is downplaying wait times, how can the public have confidence that wait list scandals are a thing of the past?” he said.
Mr. Trump took to Twitter.
“Obama’s VA Secretary just said we shouldn’t measure wait times. Hillary says VA problems are not ‘widespread.’ I will take care of our vets!” he said.
Mr. Rosebrock may be contacted at rrosebrock1@aol.com