Ever-alert reader Rich forwards the WROC (Rochester CBS Affiliate) coverage of Eric Massa's press conference on the closing of the acute psychiatric unit at the Canandaigua VA hospital. Massa's sending a letter to someone at the VA, which by itself is not news. What is news is Bob Van Wicklin's dumb response. Let's unpack it:
Our opponent is being highly irresponsible to suggest that services at the Canandaigua VA will be any less that what they are today.
I'd say that faxing a letter to the VA and holding a press conference is probably more futile than irresponsible. More importantly, was WROC being irresponsible last week when they broke the story? How about the D&C?
He's preying on the fears of our veterans.
Generally, "preying on fears" is a charge that sticks when a politician says that some scary event might happen. This event has happened -- what was feared has occurred. You can't "prey" on occurrences.
...the facts are that there will be an increase in services at the Canandaigua VA and it will be designated as a national center of excellence for post-traumatic stress disorder.
As usual with Van Wicklin, once we get past the ad hominem, it is time for the spin. If this is really a fact -- and facts have been sparse in the VA announcements -- it probably doesn't address the issue Massa and the media have raised. If "increase in services" means more sub-acute beds, as I can only imagine it does (or Van Wicklin wouldn't have been so vague), it still doesn't make up for the loss of acute beds. Loss of acute beds is loss of service, period, and all the name-calling and spin in the world won't change that fact.
(Update: A 10/25 D&C story quotes Van Wicklin as saying that Kuhl wanted the VA to wait to close the acute unit until a 22-bed sub-acute unit opens. It's the range of services, not the number of beds, that counts. Also, as Rich wrote to point out, the D&C article says that Kuhl knew about the acute unit closing last week and stayed mum about it. )