Brickbat: Wait, Isn't Oscar Canadian?

The Veterans Affairs office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has apologized for comparing veterans to Oscar the Grouch in an internal training program. A slide show warned employees that veterans could have unrealistic expectations of the agency and told them how to know when a vet is nearing an "outburst."

Comments

[Snark Plissken]

Did they also compare Obama to Mr Snuffleupagus, veterans' imaginary friend?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Unrealistic expectations like "basic standards of care" and "quick, efficient service"?

[UnCivilServant]

Unrealistic expectations like "staff showing up to work" and "hiding the soul-deadened apathy"

[Swiss Servator, Bern baby Bern]

Hey, VA... #$%^ *&!@ and !@#$ you.

/Oscar-like vet

[Ted S.]

/Oscar-like vet

Housing prices in Switzerland so expensive you can only afford to live in a garbage can?

[invisible furry hand]

He's green and furry?

[Swiss Servator, Bern baby Bern]

I am merely a servant of the Swiss - a garbage can would be all I could afford in Zurich or Geneva (Genf)... so I remain in Greater Nicole-land here in Illinois.

[Ted S.]

Gotta love single-payer health care.

[Almanian!]

FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP...

/Tony et al

[Doctor Whom]

Tony will blame market failure. PB will blame Bush.

[Almanian!]

My uncle (RIP) had no end of hate for the VA. Viet Nam vet - MP on bases in country, then at US bases after the war. Developed a couple different issues later in life. Horrid lack of treatment and apathy and runaround from the VA. In a way it was merciful he died pretty quickly.

And when "dying quickly" is the BEST thing that happened, that might suggest some things should change at the VA.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You'd be cranky too if all you saw was death and destruction around and you barely made it out yourself, asshole.

It's one thing to make fun of customers (which a boss worth his or salt would put an end to immediately) but patients?

The people who ran the VA should be treated as a national disgrace.

[Ted S.]

The people who ran the VA should be treated as a national disgrace.

Ditto Canada's single-payer health care system.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I thought that goes without saying.

[Christophe]

Canadian Healthcare: It's great as long as you never get sick!

[Atanarjuat]

Where were these stories during the Bush administration? Maybe I wasn't paying attention then, but it seems like these issues have come to a head recently. But the media won't call it a scandal, because it might make Obama look even worse, so nothing substantial will be done about it.

Sadly, they're breaking ground on a VA hospital in my town as we speak. So vets won't have to drive to a nearby big city to receive NHS-quality healthcare.

[Suthenboy]

The problem has always been there, it just didn't get much play.

One reason this is especially embarrassing for Obozo is that he made it a mediumish campaign issue in 2008. He is halfway through his second term, has done jack shit about it, and it has gotten worse. I think he drew attention to it by making it a campaign issue first, and secondly by his and his administrations treatment of vets.

What a POS he is.

Everything the progressives want, from single payer to gun control to curtailing freedom of speech to climate change is meant to usher in totalitarianism. That is their end game.

[XYZ]

There was a fairly sizable scandal involving the Walter Reed hospital during Bush. But it's been forgotten, just like the VA scandals always are.

It all makes me almost feel bad for Obama taking all that heat earlier this year. Problems with the VA are nothing new... We've known about the incompetence and apathy for decades. But seeing as how single-payer health care is supposed to kind of be his thing, you'd think he'd try to get it right in the one place it's being done.

[The Last American Hero]

This x 1000.

If you can't give good single payer to a small (compared to 400 million) number of adults that are part of a population that has the sympathy of both major political parties, how the heck can you roll it out to the whole country and expect it to work?

[Rich]

The presentation included tips on how to tell if a veteran is nearing an "outburst," including being accusatory, agitated, demanding, or unfocused

Seems a lot of congresscreatures and administration weenies are nearing "outbursts".

[Swiss Servator, Bern baby Bern]

"I have been trying to get a simple appointment for 93 days now, dammit!"

"Ha! I just knew you were going have an accusatory outburst....I have been trained!"

[Jerryskids]

If you like your VA, you can keep it. If you don't like your VA, well, you're going to keep it anyway. Now shut up and sit down, maggot, or we'll find out how you like electroshock treatment and healthcare at the county jail.

[userve32]

And that sir is why we roll with it, always.

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