Oh, NOW she visits Walter Reed

When the mold has been slopped over with paint, and the mice temporarily in other quarters.

Rep. Jean Schmidt wrote in her weekly column sent out to reporters on Monday that stories about horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were "overblown."

Schmidt, a Clermont County Republican, decided to take "several hours" to travel to the hospital in Washington, D.C., to see the situation "first hand."

Her conclusion?

"I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media."

Schmidt wrote that in her tour of all four outpatient housing facilities, she was "pleasantly surprised to find that three of the buildings contained clean living spaces, updated television and computer access, and full access to cooking units or cafeterias."

She also inspected Building 18, the focus of the Washington Post stories exposing conditions at Walter Reed.

"While I believe that this building is beneath the standard of what is acceptable, I think it is wrong to suggest that mold found behind an air conditioner somehow is an excuse to say that all of our veterans are receiving substandard medical care.

Right. They started painting over the mold the minute the story hit. This story broke one MONTH ago. One month of painting and fumigating and plastering.

Overblown is a verb that better describes you, Ms. Schmidt.

Update 3/21: Hey, Jean! Some more places you should visit:

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs' vast network of 1,400 health clinics and hospitals is beset by maintenance problems such as mold, leaking roofs and even a colony of bats, an internal review says. The investigation, ordered two weeks ago by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, is the first major review of the facilities conducted since the disclosure of squalid conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Instead of just visiting the special VIP rooms:

The large, comfortable suites on the hospital's top floor are reserved for the president, the vice president, federal judges, members of Congress and the Cabinet, high-ranking military officials and even foreign dignitaries and their spouses. The only enlisted members of the military who are eligible to stay there are recipients of the Medal of Honor.

The suites have carpeted floors, antique furniture and fine china in the dining rooms. That's a stark contrast to mold- and mice-ridden housing that some wounded troops had been found to be living in.