memeorandum: Who do Americans blame for the VA scandal? (CBS News)

12:10 PM ET, May 22, 2014

Top Items:

Who do Americans blame for the VA scandal? — Shares - — NEW YORK — Americans split in their thoughts over who they think is most to blame for the problems at Veterans Affairs department medical facilities, which involve allegations that VA hospitals kept delays in treatment off the books …

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico and Washington Post

Kevin OBrien / Associated Press:

Where VA has taken veterans, Obamacare is leading all Americans: Kevin O'Brien — The White House says Americans can't draw any conclusions yet about just how screwed up is the Department of Veterans Affairs medical care system. — Well, yes, Americans can.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Real Clear Politics

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

VA scandal is bipartisan — If even one American veteran has died because of inadequate treatment by the Department of Veterans Affairs, President Obama and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki owe veterans an apology. Virtually all members and the leaders of both parties in both houses of Congress owe veterans an apology.

John Kass / Chicago Tribune:
Obama's talking points miss point on VA scandal

Discussion: Power Line, The White House and Washington Free Beacon

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
The Veterans Affairs Scandal Was Decades in the Making

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post and Mediaite

Hadas Gold / Politico:
Anatomy of a Veterans' Affairs scandal

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, TVNewser, Weekly Standard and Washington Post

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Amid growing Veterans Affairs scandal, why Eric Shinseki is hard to fire

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Washington Post

NationalJournal.com:
Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs?

Discussion: The New Republic, The Mahablog, American Prospect, Outside the Beltway and PoliticusUSA

Joy Powell / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Fox anchor Gregg Jarrett jailed briefly after incident in MSP airport bar — Fox News anchor Gregg Jarrett was jailed Wednesday after being arrested in a bar at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. — Jarrett, who is a weekend co-anchor on the FOX News Channel, was arrested about 12:30 p.m …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TVNewser, Associated Press, The Raw Story, Politico, Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, TMZ.com, Poynter and The Huffington Post

The Atlantic Online:

The Case for Reparations — Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole. — Ta-Nehisi Coates … — Deuteronomy 15: 12-15

Discussion: Booman Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, Bloomberg View, Althouse and The New Republic

Michael Catalini / NationalJournal.com:

Democratic Senator Says Some Oppose Obamacare Because Obama Is Black — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson responds, “God help you for implying I'm a racist.” — A senior Democratic senator suggested Wednesday that President Obama's race factored into opposition to the Affordable Care Act …

Discussion: RedState

The Hill:
Premium hike drumbeat before November Election Day

Discussion: Hot Air and Associated Press

Heather Boushey / The Atlantic Online:

It Wasn't Household Debt That Caused the Great Recession — Why are nearly 10 million people still out of work today? Was it because in September 2008, the U.S. government failed to bail out the insolvent investment bank Lehmann Brothers? Was it because the two U.S. housing finance giants Fannie Mae …

Discussion: New York Times

Politico:

Clinton allies pressured Dems on Benghazi — Hillary Clinton's world was so worried about a Republican investigation of the Benghazi attacks, they sent a message to House Democrats: We need backup. — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) publicly considered boycotting the panel …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, ABC News and New York Times

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

How Obama Became the Superhero of Excuses — Meant to mock president's critics, the ‘Green Lantern’ theory underscores the gap between his promise and his performance. — In this photo taken by a government photographer for Halloween 2012, President Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets Nicholas Tamarin, 3.

Discussion: Viking Pundit, RedState, Commentary Magazine and Ed Driscoll

Alan I. Abramowitz / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Nationalization of Senate Elections Poses Challenge to Democrats in 2014 — Democrats face several challenges in trying to maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate in the 2014 midterm election. In addition to the normal tendency of the president's party to lose seats in midterm elections …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Political Insider blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Democratic Strategist and New York Times

Benjamin Goad / The Hill:

Tax preparers balk at IRS education standards — The nation's accountants are staging a pre-emptive strike against an expected move by the Internal Revenue Service to impose voluntary education standards for tax preparers. — The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) …

Discussion: Hit & Run

Seth D. Michaels / Talking Points Memo:

Moderately Anti-Democratic: The Lie Of The Political ‘Center’ — We keep using some words in our political debate, but they don't really mean what we think they mean. — The think tank Third Way released a poll last week showing a commonplace fact about U.S. politics …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and New York Times

Investor's Business Daily:

Bribery, ObamaCare Style — Bailouts: Last Friday, the Obama administration quietly expanded an insurance industry bailout program that it publicly insisted never existed. In exchange, Obama wants a big political favor from insurers. — Last week, the administration promised insurers it would use …

Discussion: Hot Air

Dave Levinthal / The Center for Public …:

Nearly $100 million in campaign cash sits idle — Some urge funds be put toward charity — As Sen. Evan Bayh prepared to quit Congress, he called on all Americans to embrace a “spirit of devotion to the national welfare beyond party or self-interest” and declared his “passion for service to our fellow citizens is undiminished.”

Discussion: OnPolitics and The Daily Beast

Sancho Panza / SOOPERMEXICAN:

More ‘War On Women’ Deleted Tweets - Democrat Congressional Candidate Asks Followers to Assail Conservative Woman With ‘C-Word’! — I already showed how Clay Aiken deleted a tweet advocating violence against Ann Coulter, and how Buzzfeed accidentally neglected to mention it in their post about his deleted tweets.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and NewsBusters

Sancho Panza / SOOPERMEXICAN:
War On Women!! Guess Which Democrat Candidate Deleted a Tweet Saying He Wanted to Punch …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, The Lonely Conservative and The Daily Caller

Debbie Stabenow / CNN:

Why I'm ready for Hillary — Editor's note: Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, has been in the Senate since 2001. She is chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and serves on the Energy, Budget and Finance committees. You can follow her on Twitter @stabenow.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Politico

Thomas Fuller / New York Times:

Thai Army Declares Coup, Citing Need to ‘Reform’ Nation — BANGKOK — Two days after declaring martial law the Thai military on Thursday seized full control of the country, the second time in a decade that the army has overthrown an elected government. — The military, which had invited …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BBC, Reuters, Democracy Now, The Star Online, Outside the Beltway, The Week and Gawker

Kevin Williamson / National Review:

The Victim Presidency — As many have remarked here, Barack Obama has a strange habit of acting like somebody else has been president these past years. It's really odd. — In his speech on the VA, the president said that he would not stand for things that he clearly and undeniably …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

Obama, the unaccountable president — ANALYSIS / OPINION — “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance.” — Will Rogers — Has there ever been a president in the history of America who knew less than President Obama?