clear they will be held accountable. at some point the chief executive, the chairman, whoever it is, has to take responsibility for the entire organization and its performance. that s the first person to say shinseki poely is the guy who needs to take responsibility for this if they find the allegations to be true. meanwhile, not a single senate democrat who has called fort resignation of secretary shinseki. however, there are just huge chorus that seems to be getting louder and louder and louder from veteran support groups calling for him to step down. yet we also had colonel ralph peters on the show yesterday who said basically that if you are blaming eric shinseki for all the problems in the v.a., it s like blaming your doctor for the cancer that you have. this is the problem that has been systemic for decades and he is the man to fix it and he needs to stay in place. and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, one
taking care of our wounded warrior, our veterans cause helping our wounded warriors isn t just a promise, it s an obligation. reporter: he hosts a military family s breakfast at the white house, then goes to arlington national cemetery where that traditional laying of the wreath on the tomb of the unknown. back to you in new york. steve live for us. thank you very much. as the president goes for his memorial day activities today, that cloud of the v.a. scandal hovering above every move he makes on this memorial day. yesterday some surprising words from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, general mark dempsey who has been the first break from the administration to come out swinging really against secretary shinseki, saying he needs to be held accountable and probably needs to go. listen. it is outrageous. if the allegations actually are documented and proven. i suspect some of them will be. they got to be held accountable. i think rick shinseki made it
like blaming your doctor for cancer. it is something that has been going on for decades. the root of the problem is not shinseki. it is the bureaucracy. it is a problem that has been ongoing for 50 years. it is not a new thing. he s been in control of this for four to six years. this is getting to a different point. we re having our military vets especially this weekend saying this is a problem. a lot of local grass roots efforts are saying something has to be done. if the administration is not going to do anything about it, been sort of quiet on this, the president didn t address it, he made passing mention of their health yesterday in afghanistan. a lot of talk about if the congress isn t doing anything, the president, where is eric holder, the head of the department of justice? and senator blumenthal saying we need to have a d.o.j. investigation on what exactly is unfolding at the v.a. listen. i believe that the department of justice has to be involved. i ve urged secretary sh
veterans affairs hospitals back in 1996 and 1997 when 4:00 p.m. would come around and you had people waiting in waiting rooms to get in, 4:00 p.m., i m sorry, bureaucracy shut down. you got to go home. we can t see you this afternoon. in a for profit business, it s very different. the business owners of any sort, even if it s some type of health care, you want to make sure that you turn a profit so you re going to make sure your customers are happy. these veterans in a sense are not really customers to these hospitals. these doctors are not work for the veterans. they re work for the government. have you ever been in a post office where it stayed open late just for you? no. let me help you mail that package. that door is locked while there is still people in line. we have other stories making headlines on this memorial day. the search in colorado for those missing in a massive mud slide. set to resume at sunrise. the mud slide stretches four miles long, two miles wide and as
it changes incentives for a lot of people of the we heard that from a lot of folks on the street, said that very thing. they talked about carter options, if they had a choice, oftentimes they might choose the v.a. for specialized care. but if they go to someplace more efficient, they might choose that. but at many government agencies, it s 4:00 o clock, out the door. how does that change? you heard a couple gentlemen felt like they were treated like a number. they were treated like the problem. why are you trying to come back and get this care? come back five months from now and be grateful for this. these guys are grateful. they re not victims. they just want the v.a. to work. we didn t pick baltimore cause it was a terrible v.a. this is an average facility, not under investigation. yet this is still what we heard, which is another demonstration of how system wide this problem is. that was really just a general v.a., just a normal run of the mill v.a. in baltimore. they iss