In the unfolding train wreck of the Walter Reed story, Bu$hCo has apparently woken up and is desperately fighting back in their fallback position. After the automatic default positions of denial and attacking the messengers and accusers failed, they’re beginning the kabuki dance of addressing the issue:

WASHINGTON, March 2 — President Bush has ordered a top-to-bottom investigation into the medical care available to returning veterans, the White House said today, a day after the firing of the two-star general in charge of Walter Reed Army Medical Center over shabby conditions there.

In his regular Saturday radio address this week, the president will say he intends to name a bipartisan commission to conduct “a comprehensive review of care that America is providing our wounded servicemen and women,” a White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said today.

“The review will examine their treatment from the time they leave the battlefield through their return to civilian life as veterans, so we can assure we are meeting their physical and mental health needs,” Ms. Perino said.

Well, now… Mentioning it on a weekly political radio broadcast out to resolve the entire issue. I wonder whether we’ll hear a “mea culpa”?

A commission study should give them at least a Friedman Unit of time to ignore the situation, by which point there will be other crises of incompetence, mismanagement and deliberate malfeasance to focus on. Forming a “bipartisan” commission is of course a useless step since Mr Bu$h tends to ignore bipartisan commissions anyway. He certainly ignored the findings of the “bipartisan” 9/11 and Iraq Study Groups.

Here’s the true state of the Mu$h malAdministration’s interest in veterans care in the FY2009 budget:

Veterans: The budget proposal would reduce funds for health care for veterans by 2% in FY 2009 and would freeze funds at that level from FY 2010 through FY 2012, although the cost of health care for veterans continues to increase, the AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Heck of a job, Bu$hie. Thanks very much. Looks like we may have a repeat of the post WWI scenes of amputees selling pencils and apples on street corners.

House Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Chet Edwards (D-Texas) said, "Either the administration is willingly proposing massive cuts in VA health care or its promise of a balanced budget by 2012 is based on completely unrealistic assumptions." White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson Sean Kevelighan said that the proposed reduction and subsequent freeze in funds for health care for veterans "don't reflect any policy decisions." He added, "We'll revisit them when we do the (future) budgets" (AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/13).

These guys are supposedly leaving the White House in 2009 (although I’m suspicious about that) and they won’t be faking any budgets after FY2009. Why even mention “revisiting” veterans care items if needed? Do they really imagine we won’t have many more veterans needing care? Of course increases will be needed!

Is Mr Kevelighan really certain he wants the official answer to be “don’t reflect any policy decisions”? It’s certain there will be an increased number of veterans, and more amputees due to the nature of combat in Mr Bu$h’s little ego-war in Iraq. How can a reduction in funding not be a policy decision?