Schmidt: Walter Reed issues overblown

[gldstwmn]

http://zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/a...18/1002/NEWS01

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio congresswoman who recently toured Walter Reed Army Medical Center says there are misperceptions about the scandal over poor treatment of veterans and the conditions at the hospital.

“While I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media, I hope that future accounts will bring more light to the real issues,” Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, wrote in a column posted this week on her House Web site. “We need to do more to make sure that our veterans get the level of health care they desperately need.”

A series by The Washington Post last month reported subpar conditions at the hospital in Washington, D.C., and substandard services for patients. Three high-ranking military officials, including the secretary of the Army, were ousted, and President Bush has appointed a commission to conduct a broad review on veteran and troop care.

Schmidt wrote that she decided to see the hospital complex after reading the accounts.

“Our returning troops, who have sacrificed so much for us, deserve our gratitude, respect, and the very best health care available. That is what makes this situation so alarming,” she said.

She said she toured Building 18, highlighted in the Post series with conditions such as black mold on walls, rodents and cockroaches, and shoddy mattresses.

“While I believe that this building is beneath the standard of what is acceptable, I think it is wrong to suggest that mold found behind an air conditioner somehow is an excuse to say that all of our veterans are receiving substandard medical care,” Schmidt wrote.

She said allowing the building to be used as living quarters was a poor management decision and the decision makers have been punished.

Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, said he hadn’t read Schmidt’s column, but disagreed that the situation had been overblown.

“I continue to believe that this is a very serious issue, and the press is doing its job in reporting it,” Chabot told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “The media and Congress have an obligation to shine a light on a situation like this. It’s intolerable. It is totally unacceptable to treat our military veterans this way.”

Dave Lane, chairman of the Democratic Party in Schmidt’s home county of Clermont, east of Cincinnati, said Schmidt’s comments are not going to sit well with people in her district, including veterans like himself.

“Her reluctance to acknowledge the plain truth of a matter is typical,” Lane said. “She did it during the campaign when she said that everything was going well in Iraq. She is doing it again.”

A message for comment was left Wednesday with Schmidt’s Washington office.

Schmidt, narrowly re-elected in November, stirred a furor in Washington during her first year in Congress with a verbal assault on the House floor directed against Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and decorated Marine veteran who served in Vietnam. Schmidt said: “Cowards cut and run. Marines never do.” She later apologized.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee blasted Schmidt’s column Wednesday.

“Jean Schmidt must be living in a parallel universe,” spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said in a statement. “In Mean Jeans world, the Iraq war is going well, Congressman Jack Murtha — a decorated Marine — is a coward, and the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed were simply ’overblown’ by the media.”

[skcin]

Um. There was mold growing on the walls.

[BTFLCHLD]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

“While I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media, I hope that future accounts will bring more light to the real issues,” Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, wrote in a column posted this week on her House Web site. “We need to do more to make sure that our veterans get the level of health care they desperately need.”

whatev...maybe she should be layed up for months in a VA hospital then spew.

[DrummerDeanna]

Originally Posted by skcin

Um. There was mold growing on the walls.

And the roaches. and rats. Which I'm sure were out waiting for her with party hats

If she "toured" the facility then I'm guess she got a pretty shallow look at it... Idiot.