Topic: Got this in an email... not sure it is valid but....
Sojourning_Soul's photo
Wed 05/20/09 12:52 PM
Subject: OBAMA IS SURPRISED

He may not be an idiot, but he is definitely uncaring. I believe his only driving force is how much power he can accumulate. John A. Boesch, Jr.

I don't care what your political views are...you must read this. Another look at our idiot president, unbelievable!!!!

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HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO LET THE MILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR INJURIES.........WHAT A EMPTY HEADED PERSON HE MUST BE....SEND THIS TO EVERYONE TO SHOW JUST WHAT HE THINKS OF OUR MILITARY WHO FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY AND GET HURT PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM!!!

I HAVE ANOTHER NAME FOR THIS CREATURE BUT AM TRYING TO STOP USING THAT WORD FOR HIM....IT IS NOT NICE........

Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty.

The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal.

"Look, it's an all volunteer force," Obama complained..
"Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn't compute...”

"I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their country," Obama continued. "I wasn't asking for blood, just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I'd have thought that the patriotic thing to do would be to try to help reduce the nation's deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans."
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No time to check it now so if someone has any input or info please post it.


Lionfish's photo
Wed 05/20/09 01:29 PM
What is your source?

willing2's photo
Wed 05/20/09 01:36 PM
It was his plan.
Give free Medical to Illegals and charge the Vet for Health Care. He seems to concern himself with the well being of every other country than the one he is supposed to be serving.

By Adam Levine
CNN

updated 4:58 p.m. EDT, Tue March 10, 2009
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.


Lawmakers say they'd reject a proposal to make veterans pay for treatment of war wounds with private insurance.

But the proposal would be "dead on arrival" if it's sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.

No official proposal to create such a program has been announced publicly, but veterans groups wrote a pre-emptive letter last week to President Obama voicing their opposition to the idea after hearing the plan was under consideration.

The groups also cited an increase in "third-party collections" estimated in the 2010 budget proposal -- something they said could be achieved only if the Veterans Administration started billing for service-related injuries.

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

Currently, veterans' private insurance is charged only when they receive health care from the VA for medical issues that are not related to service injuries, like getting the flu.

Charging for service-related injuries would violate "a sacred trust," Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the move would risk private health care for veterans and their families by potentially maxing out benefits paying for costly war injury treatments.

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A second senator, North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, said he agreed that the idea should not go forward.

"I think you will give that up" as a revenue stream if it is included in this April's budget, Burr said.

Murray said she'd already discussed her concerns with the secretary the previous week.

"I believe that veterans with service-connected injuries have already paid by putting their lives on the line," Murray said in her remarks. "I don't think we should nickel and dime them for their care."

Eleven of the most prominent veterans organizations have been lobbying Congress to oppose the idea. In the letter sent last week to the president, the groups warned that the idea "is wholly unacceptable and a total abrogation of our government's moral and legal responsibility to the men and women who have sacrificed so much."

The groups included The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

At the time, a White House spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the option was being considered.

ThomasJB's photo
Wed 05/20/09 01:41 PM
Story about the original proposal:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/dems-fuming-over-white-ho_n_176006.html

Factcheck says email is false:
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_obama_accuse_veterans_of_selfishness_and.html

willing2's photo
Wed 05/20/09 02:02 PM

CNN says it was his idea.

yellowrose10's photo
Wed 05/20/09 02:11 PM
huh

metalwing's photo
Wed 05/20/09 02:16 PM
Sometimes, where there is smoke, there is fire.

willing2's photo
Wed 05/20/09 02:37 PM
Next thing ya' know, he'll wanna' put toll booths at the wheelchair ramps.


Sojourning_Soul's photo
Wed 05/20/09 02:46 PM
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/veteranshealth.asp

He considered it, and that in itself shows what he is made of. I've now read that the quotes in the OP were adlibs and not said by him (I would like to have been there to see what was said tho....) but were derived from statements made from members within his staff on the issue.

Obama is no veteran, never served this country in the military, has no clue to the workings of veterans affairs. I have always thought that if you don't have a clue to the material, you stay out of the discussion and listen, but to try to make changes without a clue.........

Want to help the soldiers and their families? END THE WARS! BRING THEM HOME! That will eliminate a whole lot of government..... TAXPAYER.... expense!

ThomasJB's photo
Wed 05/20/09 03:49 PM
Obama so far doesn't seem anymore likely to end this war in Iraq than Bush even though ending the war in Iraq was one of the biggest reasons he was elected. There is your "modern day JFK" for ya.

Fanta46's photo
Wed 05/20/09 04:03 PM
Q: Did Obama accuse veterans of "selfishness" and whining? Would he have forced them to "pay for their war injuries"?
This e-mail is circulating. What is the truth about this one?

I don't care what your political views are...you must read this. Another look at our president, unbelieveable!!!!

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HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO LET THE MILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR INJURIES........WHAT A EMPTY HEADED PERSON HE MUST BE....SEND THIS TO EVERYONE TO SHOW JUST WHAT HE THINKS OF OUR MILITARY WHO FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY AND GET HURT PROTECTING OUR FREEDOM!!!

I HAVE ANOTHER NAME FOR THIS CREATURE BUT AM TRYING TO STOP USING THAT WORD FOR HIM....IT IS NOT NICE......


Bad press, including major mockery of the plan by comedian Jon Stewart, led to President Obama abandoning his proposal to require veterans carry private health insurance to cover the estimated $540 million annual cost to the federal government of treatment for injuries to military personnel received during their tours on active duty.

The President admitted that he was puzzled by the magnitude of the opposition to his proposal. "Look, it's an all volunteer force," Obama complained. "Nobody made these guys go to war. They had to have known and accepted the risks. Now they whine about bearing the costs of their choice? It doesn't compute.."

"I thought these were people who were proud to sacrifice for their
country," Obama continued. "I wasn't asking for blood (oh but you did), just money. With the country facing the worst financial crisis in its history, I'd have thought that the patriotic thing to do (Let's talk patriotic for a moment here...kids getting their ass shot at, of which there has been a loss there has been shoty supplies of appropriate protection - Parents are paying for it out of their own pocket, and you Sir, want to turn your back...Mr. Commander in Chief, is it??) would be to try to help reduce the nation's deficit. I guess I underestimated the selfishness of some of my fellow Americans."

WITH THIS THINKING IT WOULD SEEM THAT ALL POLITICAL OFFICES, FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY & CITY EMPLOYEES WOULD FALL INTO THAT CATEGORY... THUS THEY SHOULD PAY FOR ALL THEIR HEALTH CARE AND THE PERKS THEY NOW RECEIVE SHOULD BE REMOVED AS THESE COSTS ARE PART OF THE JOB... THEY CAN ALWAYS FIND ANOTHER JOB...

SINCE THEY ALL ARE ALL SO VERY PATROIC, THE PRESIDENT SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE AND START PAYING FOR HIS HEALTH INSURANCE AND ALL THE TRIPS HE MAKES ON AIRFORCE ONE...

LETS SEE HOW UNSELFISH HIS ADMININSTRATION IS...

Who the hell does this guy think he is? The volunteers for the military are the reason he's where he is, they're keeping him and family safe. He's got to be from another planet!

Fanta46's photo
Wed 05/20/09 04:04 PM
A: This chain e-mail contains fabricated quotes and misrepresents a budget idea that the White House scrapped.


We've received many copies and variations of this e-mail in the past few weeks.


Made-up Quotes

To start, the e-mail's anonymous author offers no evidence to substantiate the disparaging remarks about veterans that he or she attributes to President Obama. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told us that "these quotes are fabricated."

Our own research backs that up. We searched news databases and turned up no news organization that has ever quoted Obama this way. We conclude that these quotes are simply made-up, and perhaps intended as satire.


Garbled Budget Proposal

Furthermore, the author incorrectly describes a budget proposal that the White House discarded after veterans groups protested loudly. The message describes the idea as a "decision to let the military pay for their war injuries" and to "require veterans [to] carry private health insurance." That gives a false picture of what was actually under discussion.

As reported by the Washington Post and others including Fox News, the Obama administration met with several veterans groups on March 16 and floated the idea of saving taxpayers $540 million by billing veterans' private insurance companies for treatment of conditions connected to their military service, including war injuries. The Department of Veterans Affairs currently bills these insurance companies for treatment of non-service-related conditions.

But as administration officials made clear at the time, there was no proposal to force veterans to pay for treatment for their own injuries, or to make them buy private insurance if they did not already have it. In fact, administration officials told FactCheck.org at the time that their proposal would have no financial impact on veterans at all.

"The idea ... would result in no additional out-of-pocket costs to veterans even when their private insurance plans require deductibles before benefits are paid," one official told us in an exchange of e-mails.

Nevertheless, veterans organizations protested. An American Legion news release carried the headline: "The American Legion Strongly Opposed to President's Plan to Charge Wounded Heroes for Treatment." It complained that the idea could under some circumstances result in added costs to veterans despite administration officials' assurances. For example, the Legion said, a veteran's treatment might cost enough to reach maximum insurance coverage limits, leaving the rest of the veteran's family without health care benefits.

Two days after its meeting with veterans groups, the White House released a formal announcement saying that "the President has instructed that [the idea's] consideration be dropped."