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Karl Rove is now attacking Barack Obama’s record — as a senator. Appearing Thursday night on Fox News, the Republican strategist said he doesn’t know whether Obama “was paying much attention” while he served on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “President Obama was a member of the Senate veterans committee. He very rarely showed up at those meetings,” Rove told “On The Record” host Greta Van Susteren. “It would be interesting for your staff to go take a look at that but he — these issues about scheduling and the backlog, these were discussed at Senate veterans committee meetings and...

President Obama’s chief of staff reassured frustrated House Democrats on Tuesday that the White House will respond aggressively to the controversy at the Veterans Affairs Department. The VA has been under fire this month following reports that its healthcare facilities used secret waiting lists to disguise the number of veterans not treated within the agency's stated goal of 14 days. Dozens of veterans have reportedly died awaiting care. “I think you're going to find very aggressive action within the administration,” Rep. Xavier Becerra (Calif.), head of the House Democratic Caucus, said after House Democrats met with White House chief of...

Though the Obama Administration is saying that the President is "madder than hell" at extremely long waiting times and that he would take action, Mr. Obama actually campaigned against what is going on now in 2007. In a speech entitled "A Sacred Trust" that then-Senator Obama gave on August 21, 2007, Mr. Obama slammed lengthy waiting times and the mishandling of VA wait times and health care. At the time, Obama was campaigning to win the Democrat nomination for President. "To keep our sacred trust," Mr. Obama explained, "I will improve mental health screening and treatment at all levels: from...

But of course:

President Barack Obama first learned of the scandal involving Department of Veterans Affairs hospital administrators concealing the true wait times vets faced in the press, according to a claim made by White House Press Sec. Jay Carney on Monday. While the president may have not been aware of the falsified wait lists, however, reports indicate that his administration was informed of excessive wait times at the VA as early as 2008. Obama even campaigned on the issue of VA waiting lists in 2007. “When was the president first made aware of these problems?” CNN reporter Jim Acosta asked. “These fraudulent

Good news, citizens! All is well! The White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough sat down with Major Garrett on CBS this morning to clarify once and for all that the recent termination at the VA was absolutely not, in any way shape or form, even in the slightest, to be construed as as a scapegoat who was about to retire anyway taking the hit for the VA scandals. DENIS MCDONOUGH: Well, Secretary Shinseki accepted Dr. Petzel’s resignation this afternoon. He was due to retire early next month and obviously there has been a nomination made for his replacement. I...

The Obama administration received clear notice more than five years ago that VA medical facilities were reporting inaccurate waiting times and experiencing scheduling failures that threatened to deny veterans timely health care — problems that have turned into a growing scandal. Veterans Affairs officials warned the Obama-Biden transition team in the weeks after the 2008 presidential election that the department shouldn’t trust the wait times that its facilities were reporting. “This is not only a data integrity issue in which [Veterans Health Administration] reports unreliable performance data; it affects quality of care by delaying — and potentially denying — deserving...

TEAM OBAMA WARNED ON VETS SCANDAL IN 2008 WashTimes: “The Obama administration received clear notice more than five years ago that VA medical facilities were reporting inaccurate waiting times and experiencing scheduling failures that threatened to deny veterans timely health care — problems that have turned into a growing scandal. Veterans Affairs officials warned the Obama-Biden transition team in the weeks after the 2008 presidential election that the department shouldn't trust the wait times that its facilities were reporting. ‘This is not only a data integrity issue in which [Veterans Health Administration] reports unreliable performance data; it affects quality of...

If our government has any obligation to fulfill its many promises on health care, it should be first and foremost to the men and women who served in our armed forces. But the scandal over hidden waiting lists at a growing number of veterans’ hospitals (seven so far) — wherein dozens of veterans died while waiting months for vital treatment, and the VA covered up the lengthy wait times — should make everyone wonder whether we can place our trust in a government-managed health-care system. The Dayton Daily News reported on Sunday that its investigation of a database of...

President Barack Obama is dispatching one of his closest White House advisers to oversee a review of the beleaguered Veterans Affairs Department as the agency grapples with allegations of treatment delays and preventable deaths at a Phoenix veterans hospital. White House deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors will be temporarily assigned to the VA to work on a review focused on policies for patient safety rules and the scheduling of patient appointments, officials said Wednesday. The move signals Obama's growing concern over problems at the department, particularly recent reports that hospital administrators in Phoenix kept an off-the-books list to conceal...