"Here is the truth: The deal to trade five senior Taliban detainees to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was political. It was publicly justified with lies, it breaks decades of U.S. policy, it breaks American law, it puts Americans at risk, it undermines the government of Afghanistan, and it passes responsibility on to the next administration. 

"But first of all, it was political. ... 

"Simply stated, it was because so long as Bergdahl remained in Taliban captivity in Pakistan, the Obama administration would never be able to close the chapter of the failed Afghanistan campaign it has owned since approving — and then under-resourcing — a surge of U.S. forces in the country."

"(CNN) -- The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him -- veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose 'selfish act' ended up costing the lives of better men. ...  

"Questions surround the circumstances of Bergdahl's disappearance. Conflicting details have since emerged about how the militants managed to capture Bergdahl. Published accounts have varied widely, from claims he walked off the post to another that he was grabbed from a latrine.

"According to first-hand accounts from soldiers in his platoon, Bergdahl, while on guard duty, shed his weapons and walked off the observation post with nothing more than a compass, a knife, water, a digital camera, and a diary.

"At least six soldiers were killed in subsequent searches for Bergdahl, and many soldiers in his platoon said attacks seemed to increase against the United States in Paktika Province in the days and weeks following his disappearance."

"The Veterans Administration scandal involves charges of manipulation and falsification of medical waiting lists and systemwide rigging to hide delayed or inadequate treatment, which may have caused the deaths of some of those waiting for care. There are whistle-blowers, allegations of local coverups, and the possibility of criminal charges. Also becoming clearer are two motives for those involved in what appears to have been a racket: their compensation and their career trajectories. 

"This scandal won't go away as others have, because all America is united in this thought: We care about our military veterans. We've asked a great deal of them, and they have a right to expect a great deal from us. Also, everyone in America knows what it's like to go to a bureaucracy when you're in need and get jerked around and ignored. 

"The scandal also prompts this thought: Barack Obama is killing the reputation of government. He is killing the thing he loves through insufficient oversight. He doesn't do the plodding, unshowy, unromantic work of making government work. In the old political formulation, he's a show horse, not a workhorse."

"When John Kennedy addressed West Point’s Class of 1962, he told them the burden of defending freedom 'will require more from you than ever before in our history.' ... 

"How different from Barack Obama’s adolescent address Wednesday. Here the long gray line was reduced to a backdrop for a president shouting to the world: I’m not the weakling you think! ... 

"On Wednesday, our commander-in-chief stood before some of America’s most selfless men and women. It was an opportunity to inspire these young West Pointers with a speech about national security — and their vital role in a dangerous world. 

"Instead he opted for a campaign speech once again contrasting his own brilliance with a childish caricature of his critics."

"The news about the accidental outing of the name of the CIA station chief in Kabul, Afghanistan seemed to be just one more instance in a long list of incompetent episodes in a second term that is proving to be as problematic as even President Obama’s sternest critics predicted. ...  

"Coming as it did from an administration and a political party that has often sought to successfully criminalize the leaking of such information in the recent past, we have a right to ask where’s the outrage about this colossal error? But more than that, this absurd tale also speaks volumes about the hypocrisy and selective prosecution policies pursued by the same people now telling us to move along because there’s nothing to see. ...  

"If the press lets Obama get away with this blunder, it will be just one more example of the refusal of the national press to hold this administration to the same standards that it judges the president’s opponents."

"Republicans in Congress seem to be drawn toward the immigration issue like a moth toward a flame. How turning illegal immigrants into Democratic voters, while demoralizing the Republican base, will help either the country or the Republicans is a mystery. If ever there was a high-risk, low-yield investment, this is it."

"Of all the three-day weekends on the U.S. calendar, Memorial Day is the most expensive. The war dead we honor today and their families paid dearly for it. …

"In a perfect world, there would be no need for a Memorial Day, but the world is not now nor ever has been perfect. So the last Monday in May continues to be a very expensive holiday. …

"A holiday weekend is full of distractions, but take a moment to remember their lives. After all, they gave you all of theirs."

"Barack Obama has a strange habit of acting like somebody else has been president these past years. It’s really odd. 

"In his speech on the VA, the president said that he would not stand for things that he clearly and undeniably has stood for some years now, and swore that he would not tolerate that which he has been tolerating since 2009. ... 

"So Barack Obama has sworn that he will not tolerate the incompetence of the Obama administration. I’d like to think that that means he is going to resign, but I don’t think that’s what he meant."

"News quiz: President Obama and his communications team hope that Americans are: 1) Dumb; 2) Distracted; 3) Numb to government inefficiency; 4) All of above. 

"Answer: 4, all of the above. 

"That answer along with utter incompetence are the best explanations for why the White House thought it could get away with claiming that the departure of Veterans Affairs official Robert Petzel was a step toward accountability for its scandalous treatment of war veterans. 

"Fact is, the department announced in 2013 that Dr. Petzel would retire this year. ... 

"It's a policy travesty magnified by an insulting public relations strategy."

"Holding hearings on Benghazi and the IRS are all well and good, and should strongly motivate Republicans to get out and vote. But barring any smoking guns before Election Day that implicate people in the White House for malfeasance, what beyond scandal will trigger the independents who swing elections in key states and districts to vote Republican? How will Republicans manage the nation better than Democrats? That is what the GOP has yet to figure out and tie into one coherent message."