Rachel Maddow ripped into Senator Richard Burr on Tuesday night over his recent behavior towards veterans groups.
Burr is the ranking member on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and he is under fire for his actions when veterans' groups testified about allegations that VA medical centers covered up long wait times for patient care. Maddow reported Tuesday that Burr left the hearing for much of their testimony, and later penned an open letter in which he scolded them for not calling for the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.
Veterans' groups were outraged, and they weren't the only ones.
Burr, Maddow said, "frankly has frequently stepped in it when it comes to dealing with veterans' issues. It makes it all the more amazing that Republicans have kept him as their top ranking authority on veterans issues in the United States' Senate. But him doing this over the Memorial Day weekend, it is earning him a round of press about as bad as you can get in the absence of a sex tape or indictment."
She pointed out that Burr is the same senator who delayed the nomination of Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth — an Iraq War veteran who is a double amputee — to be assistant secretary at the Department of Veteran Affairs. He also supported the filibuster of a bill earlier this year that would have given more funding to VA medical centers.
"Aside from Senator Lawn Mower — North Carolina's self-proclaimed authority on veterans issues — aside from him, mainstream politicians in our country have basically agreed to at least try to look like they're on veterans' side," Maddow said. "The reason Richard Burr's actions are shocking over and over: nobody is that much of a jerk to veterans."
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