(Thumbnail image: Salon.com)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

The Republican co-chair of President Obama’s Fiscal Commission is facing new calls to resign from veterans advocacy groups.

Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson told the Associated Press this week disabled veterans were not - quote - “not helping” save the country’s economy by collecting disability benefits.

The comments prompted VoteVets.org, a pro-military veterans organization, to formally call on President Obama to fire Simpson.

“... the best way to honor those who serve our country is to make sure that we take care of them once they return home. That means strengthening the vital programs we rely on, including Social Security and veterans' health care, not undermining them as Senator Simpson seems intent on doing.”

A guest host on MSNBC agrees, saying the former senator stepped way over the line.

“Are you kidding me? So after we send them to war and ask them to sacrifice their bodies and possibly their lives for this country, they’re not being helpful by collecting their disability? Simpson adds quote -- ‘the irony is that the veterans who saved the country are now, in a way, not helping to save the country in this fiscal mess.’ Wooooooowww!”

This isn’t the first time Simpson has made the news for his characteristically blunt opinions. You might remember criticism he levied at Social Security. (Video from Democracy Now!)

“In an email to the Older Women’s League, formr Senator Alan Simpson writes quote, ‘We’ve reached a point where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits! Call when you get honest work.’ Earlier this year Simpson was videotaped calling Americans reliant on Social Security ‘lesser people.’

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank defends Simpson, and says you might not like his honesty, but he’s right that veterans benefits can stand to be cut.

“Simpson, an Army veteran, is again correct. If vets are sacrosanct, Social Security is sacrosanct, low taxes are sacrosanct and everything else is sacrosanct, we'll have a whole herd of sacred cows and an economy like Greece's.”

But the blog VetVoice takes direct aim at The Washington Post, and says Milbank’s got it all wrong.

“Simpson wasn't just saying Vet benefits need to be reduced, he was blaming Vets for the condition which entitled them to the benefits. ... We owe it to Veterans to take care of them after their service is finished, despite what how little Washington Post hacks think of their service.”

Finally, on CNN, contributor John Avlon says the president’s Fiscal Commission which Simpson co-chairs, is doing important work that can’t be overshadowed by a few controversial remarks.

JOHN AVLON: “Alan Simpson committed the sin of using really salty, memorable language, so that becomes a soundbite. ... What it really is is an attempt to undercut the integrity of this commission, which is so important to longterm fiscal stability in this country, and entitlement reform is going to be a piece of that.”

So what do you think? Does Simpson have a point, or has he made one gaffe too many?



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