Vets Affairs Chief Opens Mouth, Inserts Foot

Robert McDonald, former CEO of Procter & Gamble and current Secretary of Veterans Affairs, made an unfortunate comment at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning. After many concerns had been raised about the amount of time some veterans have to wait in order to get a doctor’s appointment, McDonald said, “When you go to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what’s important? What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience?”

Oops.

Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, who chairs the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, issued this statement:

I am extremely disappointed in Secretary McDonald’s comparison of the deadly VA wait-time scandal to long lines at an amusement park. This type of attitude is why I have introduced the Veterans First Act to hold VA employees accountable and to make sure they know that veterans’ access to timely and quality care is a matter that we take very seriously.

Georgia’s junior Senator David Perdue weighed in as well:

The mere suggestion that a child waiting in line to meet Mickey Mouse is a similar experience to a veteran waiting for a PET scan or prosthetic fitting is offensive and shameful. Unlike the Secretary, I believe we should hold our veterans’ experience at a VA hospital to a higher standard than a child’s experience at a theme park. I call on Secretary McDonald to apologize for his offensive comments, and to show our American heroes the respect they deserve instead of making excuses for failed results.

The two weren’t the only ones to express their displeasure with the VA Chair, who was appointed by President Obama. There was plenty of other Twitter shaming as well.