'The problems existed on the day President Bush left office,' O'Reilly said to Rove. Rove, O'Reilly split over Bush VA

Bill O’Reilly took on Karl Rove over the management of the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Bush administration.

“The problems existed on the day President Bush left office,” the Fox News host said to Rove, who was a White House aide to President George W. Bush, on Wednesday evening.


He cited a 2008 report issued by VA to the Obama-Biden presidential transition team that said waiting times at the department were too long and threatened veterans’ access to health care. The report, obtained by CBS News, said, “the problems and causes associated with scheduled, waiting times and waiting lists are systemic.”

Rove responded that Bush doubled the size of the VA budget to invest in modernizing the department and succeeded in decreasing wait times.

“Because President Bush involved the nation in two very intense wars, he had to upgrade the VA facilities. Everybody knows that,” O’Reilly replied, referring to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Rove said later that the 2008 report was written by people assigned by the Obama team and that they were “probably Democrats.”

“You’re wrong,” O’Reilly said, as the two talked over each other. “This came from VA officials,” he added.

The debate occurred on the same day that President Barack Obama gave his first major comments on the VA scandal in three weeks. On Wednesday morning, the president said reports that 40 veterans may have died while waiting for health care in the Phoenix VA system were “disgraceful.”

O’Reilly and Rove both concluded at the end of the segment that veterans have been mistreated in the U.S. for far too long.

“You just heard me scorch President Obama. Scorch him,” O’Reilly said, referring to an earlier segment of the show. “And there’s no doubt that during his five-and-a-half years of office, things have gotten worse. Now you say, in Bush’s eight years, things got better. I’ll take you at your word, but the bottom line is, that veterans in this country, for twelve years —“

“Are not well-treated,” Rove cut in.

“That’s right,” O’Reilly said.