The topic du jour is the standard of care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Secretary Eric Shinseki was just forced to resign from his position as head of the agency due to reports of widespread fraud and corruption throughout the department. And not just typical government corruption where bureaucrats enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers who fund them. At the VA, dozens of veterans died while waiting for care. VA bureaucrats hid waiting lists and forged data in order to collect extra bonuses. Although the problems were known for years, nobody did anything to fix them. That kind of corruption.

What does this have to do with Matt Yglesias? It turns out that one of the nation’s smartest thinkers made a lot of noise about how the VA is awesome. How awesome? So awesome that maybe the entire U.S. health care should be modeled on the VA.

Seriously. He wrote that. Many, many times. He even mocked anyone — even a prominent doctor! — who had the audacity to question the quality of care provided by the VA to the men and women who volunteer to put their lives on the line for the country.