VA

Veterans Affairs Secretary Nicholson has resigned. He was a cabinet level Bush appointee.

Nicholson was National Republican chairman from 1997 through the 2000 elections.

Within months of taking office at the VA, he had to deal with a $1 billion shortfall at the agency, requiring the Bush administration to appeal to Congress for emergency spending.

Republicans blamed the shortfall on unexpected health care demands from veterans. But Democrats said it was an example of what they said was the administration's inadequate planning for the war in Iraq.

Who could possibly have imagined that launching 2 separate wars would create more demand on the VA health system?

That is how Republicans "support the troops".

There's more.. of course.. and it's a complex and large system. The VA hospital's typically do a very good job. The management is a huge problem. Because the director is a cabinet level political appointee, you often get political tools in the job.. and there's no consistency.

I worked on a project for the VA. It blew roughly a half billion dollars. We worked on it for a number of years.. had a plan.. a goal.. and then the bottom got pulled out from under it.

Five Hundred Million Tax Payer dollars.. whoosh.. disappeared just like a palate of cash in Iraq... and there is NO accountability for it.