Bernie Sanders Shreds Republican Hypocrites For Not Understanding The Real Cost of War

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is completely shredding Republicans by calling out their hypocrisy of being pro-war, but refusing to take care of our veterans.

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Sen. Sanders said:

If you listen to the remarks made by the Republican senators, what they were saying is this is an expensive piece of legislation, and the answer is to some degree, it is. And my response has been, and always will be, if you are not prepared to take care of the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country, who came back wounded in body wounded in spirit. If you’re not prepared to help those people, then don’t send them to war in the first place.

I find many of these Republicans it’s just hypocritical to be talking about the cost of this legislation when they don’t understand the real cost of war and what it means to the people who fight in those wars.

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When you talk about the cost of war, I think that most people know that we you talk about Iraq and Afghanistan we’ve lost close to seven thousand men and women. What many people may not appreciate is that some 200,000 people who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or traumatic brain injury. Others have come home without legs, without eyesight, without arms. People really suffered, and if the country, our country stands for anything, it must be that we do everything that we can to protect those people who put their lives on the line to defend us.

The Republican have created another PR disaster for themselves by trying to turn the VA scandal into an Obama scandal. I have been covering the Republican obstruction of veterans’ legislation for the last few years. Part of the problem is that the media don’t pay attention to veterans’ issues. A story that I wrote about when it happened in February has gotten a lot of play in the last week by the left about Senate Republicans blocking the Sanders bill to expand veterans benefits. What most people don’t know is that Republicans tried to torpedo the bill before it ever came up for vote.

Where was the mass media coverage, and outrage in February? This is a significant part of the problem. Republicans are not held accountable for their hypocrisy. If the country really cared about our veterans we wouldn’t get outraged about Republican obstruction three or four months after it happened.

Sen. Sanders is one of the few leaders in government who is willing to call out the Republican hypocrisy. Sanders has been a lonely voice screaming in the forest since he became chairmen of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Republicans are hypocrites, and the only reason that they are getting called out this time is because they took it too far.

The reason why Republicans can not be placed in a position of power again is because they have learned absolutely nothing since the Bush years. If Republicans had their way, they would fire some people at the VA, stomp their feet, and move on. They aren’t interested changing their policy of war for the sake of war.

We have a war problem. Republicans have displayed a complete unwillingness to honor the country’s promise to those who put their lives on the line for all of us. If they aren’t willing to pay for the veterans that they created, Republicans need to stop starting wars of choice.

The real patriots are the Americans who are standing up for veterans, not the flag waving, benefit blocking Republicans.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association