That sounds right. All right, by the way, no one is more upset about this than the lions of the Republican Senate.



SEN. JOHN THUNE, R-SD (5/21/2014): This VA issue is a national embarrassment, and the President's response to it is an embarrassment. SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-SC (5/21/2014): "Taking care of our veterans and their families has been one of the causes of my presidency." Well, then you failed. SEN. MITCH McCONNELL, R-KY (5/15/2014): He needs to treat these stories at least as seriously as he did the Obamacare website fiasco.

CHRISTINE ROMANS (2/28/2014): A bill that would have expanded health care and education for veterans, getting rejected in the Senate. A lack of support from Republicans doomed this bill.

CHRIS HAYES (2/28/2014): Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell tried to add an unrelated poison pill amendment to that veterans bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran.

But of course, as the President's critics rightly pointed out, President Obama knew about the VA backlog problems before he was even President Obama.



MAJOR GARRETT, CBS (5/19/2014): This memo, prepared for President-elect Obama's transition team by the George W. Bush administration, outlined the difficulties veterans faced in obtaining timely health care.

5/21/2014: BILL O'REILLY: So, the problems existed on the day President Bush left office. KARL ROVE: No, no, no, no, no, no it didn't. No, no, no. ... By improving systems, it got down to an average of about 161 days by the time that Bush left office. By 2012, it was back up above the 230 that we inherited when we came into office to 260.

5/21/2014: BILL O'REILLY: The VA itself made a report to the incoming Obama people. KARL ROVE: No, no, no, no. First of all, it is not a VA report. It is a report from people assigned by the Obama campaign to their transition planning. These were probably Democrats in Washington. BILL O'REILLY: OK, look, Mr. Rove ... you're wrong. This comes from.... KARL ROVE: Yeah, but here, Bill, let me describe what it is. No, no, no! Let me describe what the problem was, Bill. You're conflating again. The Inspector General.... BILL O'REILLY: I have to go on the record, Mr. Rove. KARL ROVE: I know! BILL O'REILLY: Mr. Rove, I have to go on the record. KARL ROVE: But let me finish, Bill. BILL O'REILLY: Nope.

See, this is why I like O'Reilly. He's like Fox News's Incredible Hulk. Sure, usually just a mindlessly aggressive force of destruction. But pointed in the right direction... (audience laughter) becomes a hero.

But let's be clear. As traditions go, mistreating our veterans is a fully bipartisan endeavor.