Levin: Republicans didn't investigate Walter Reed because they didn't want to embarass Bush

This comment is just amazing. Think Progress has Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) talk on Sunday's Meet The Press about why the Republican-controlled Congress didn't investigate the problems at Walter Reed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq because “they did not want to embarrass the President.” You can watch the video from Think Progress here. Here is the Meet The Press transcript of the show, and Levin's quote:

MR. RUSSERT: Before you go, you are chairman of the Armed Services Committee, as I mentioned. These are the headlines all week long about Walter Reed Hospital and the plight of young men and women, many of them amputees, who came home. Here’s the headline: “Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army’s Top Medical Facility.” “The Hotel Aftermath: Inside Mologne House,” “Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucr,acy and Personal Demons.” And then this cover of Newsweek, “Shattered in body and mind, too many veterans are facing poor care and red tape, why we’re failing our wounded.” “One reason to worry about a crush of new vets at the VA has to do with the proportion of wounded to dead Americans in Iraq. In Vietnam and Korea, about three Americans were wounded for every one who died. The ratio in World War II was nearly” 2-to-1. “In Iraq, 16 soldiers are wounded or get sick for every one who dies.” Could your committee have done more oversight with Walter Reed?

SEN. LEVIN: Sure. I think all—it was the lack of oversight here for the last many, many years, for a number of reasons. And by the way, I think, in part, it was because it was a Republican Congress and a Republican president that didn’t—they didn’t want to embarrass the president in a whole host of areas. But we have a responsibility, and the secretary of defense, I think, has accepted that responsibility. And I give him credit. He welcomed those headlines. He wasn’t defensive about it. He was disgusted, and he was absolutely upset, and he said that they are going to act, and that’s clearly overdue. Where we need a surge is not in Iraq, we need a surge of concern for our troops, for the veterans, for the injured, for the wounded, for the families of those who lost loved ones. That’s the surge of concern, and that’s the surge that we need. We’re going to have a hearing a week from Tuesday on the Walter Reed situation. We’re going to take all the steps that are needed. These young men and women deserve everything we can possibly give them.

Carl Levin is right. The Walter Reed Scandal is a complete embarrassment for the Bush administration. Right after the WaPost story came out, the Army responded by attacking the WaPost, claiming "it was a one-sided representation." White House press secretary Tony Snow first said that President Bush was aware of the conditions at Walter Reed before the WaPost story broke, before backtracking with claims that Bush wasn't aware of the conditions until after the WaPost story broke, and that the blame for this scandal should be directed towards the Pentagon. Check out this YouTube video on the Snowjob denying responsibility for Walter Reed:



It is just spin after spin after spin.

Update: The Senate will now conduct investigative hearings into the Walter Reed scandal. This is from TPM Muckraker:

Starting next week, the Senate wades into the muck at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced today that next Tuesday, March 6, a host of responsible Defense officials will parade to the Dirksen building to try to explain how conditions at the Army's elite hospital complex deteriorated to the horrific conditions depicted in last week's depressing Washington Post series.

Perhaps the most anticipated testimony will come from the Army's surgeon general, Lt. General Kevin C. Kiley. The Pentagon reacted to the Post investigation with near-unanimous horror and regret -- Army Vice Chief of Staff General Richard Cody took personal responsibility in a Thursday press conference -- and vowed to get to the heart of the problem. Kiley has been the exception. While he hasn't challenged the facts that the paper reported, last week he attacked the expose as "one-sided" and assured reporters, "this is not a horrific, catastrophic failure at Walter Reed."

Defense Secretary Gates disagrees. On Friday, he declined to endorse Kiley's characterization, saying "I have not seen anything or heard anything in the time since (the stories ran) to lead me to believe that those articles were in any substantial way wrong." To get out in front of the scandal, Gates announced the creation of an internal investigation -- led by Clinton and Reagan defense officials -- into Walter Reed, the Bethesda Naval hospital and "any other centers they choose to examine." While he said he hadn't heard of any additional problems with veterans' outpatient services beyond Walter Reed, Gates emphasized that the Pentagon needs to understand "the scope of the problem."

It is going to be interesting to see the contradictions between what the Pentagon generals will be saying in the Senate verses the political PR-spin coming out of the Bush White House.