The men don't know…

…but the little kids understand, sez the Senior Senator from the Upper Left.

"This is about taking responsibility when you mess up. That's something even little kids understand."

As the recipient of a letter from the VA warning me that my own records may have been among those compromised by the institutional neglect and incompetence of yet another branch of Bushco, I applaud Senator Patty Murray's leadership on finding a fast and fair way to provide a measure of protection to all who've been affected.

Clearly, the administration hasn't found such a plan yet, as weeks go by since the belated disclosure of the data losses at the VA. Steve Benen sums up the problems with their approach so far...

It was bad enough Bush's VA was so careless with the information. It was worse when the administration hasn't quite sure what it had lost, even a month later.

But this response on veterans' behalf is truly amazing. The Bush administration is willing to pay for a year of free credit monitoring, but to pay for it, officials wanted to take money from accounts that pay for veterans' health care. When Dems shamed them into backing down, the Bush gang said it'd instead pay for the monitoring by taking money from job training, student loans, and a farmers' assistance program.

Seems to me that the sacrifice of a few of the pork barrel earmarks that have been such a linchpin to the entire Republican culture of corruption might provide more than enough money, without putting a kid out of school or a family off the farm.

And where'd this sudden Republican enthusiasm for pay-go come from?

Keep up the fight, Patty, and thanks.