While the Bush administration has eagerly fired a scapegoat over the appalling conditions at Walter Reed hospital (much like it handled Abu Ghraib by firing Brig. Gen. Karpinski instead of addressing its own pro-torture policy),  the conservative spin machine has swung into full gear.

Instead of blaming the underfunding of the VA, and the poorly anticipated stresses brought on the system by Iraq casualties, quips about so-called "socialized" medicine have begun to pepper the conservative blogosphere. The disgraceful horrors of Walter Reed are "proof" that government-managed healthcare is inherently disastrous.

The truth? The VA is the best health care in America.

The "VA has for six consecutive years received the highest consumer satisfaction ratings of any public or private sector health care system," providing prompt, efficient, and high-quality service.

The VA is capable of doing this in large part because its centralization of authority creates effective oversight, allows swift coordinated response to problems, constantly adapting to reduce costs and improve care. As a Kennedy School study found,

"The VA is...becoming the model for what modern health care management and delivery should look like."

This is a story about Elly and Fill, and more marginally, dancing. Their names are changed to protect their confidentiality. Elly is a young, college-aged student organizer. Fill, who looks, talks, and acts like (and might actually be) this character from Syriana, is a generic operative.

Elly: Do you know about Students for Saving Social Security?

Me: I guess, generally.

Elly: See, President Bush put in a thing for having private accounts, and Congress wants to take it out –

(Fill, who I had seen yucking it up at another table minutes before, appears out of nowhere) 

Fill: Hi [looks at nametag] Elly, we haven’t met yet, I’m sorry to interrupt. You can’t say private accounts, you gotta say personal accounts. When you say private, people think corporate, like corporations are gonna control their money, they think of prisons and things in their towns being privatized, and they aren't going to control their money anymore. You gotta say personal accounts.

It's sort of difficult to not give oneself away without lying (I had to remove the Books not Bombs sticker from my laptop), but so far so good. I even found my way into last night's NRA banquet, and have had quite a few interesting (if sort of one-way, I prefer not to answer questions) conversations.

Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I think its my turn to play Dance Dance Revolution. Anything for the cause!