My Favorite Hack

Okay. I mean to say "least favorite".

You'll understand when you have read this short excerpt from The New Republic's article "Welcome to the Hackocracy". For an administration that has identified supporting its war with supporting the Troops, the failure to put someone capable in charge at VA demonstrates how empty that rhetoric has been all along.

Sadly, those who have paid the price for this war have come home to incompetence, stinginess, unpreparedness and neglect. I am enraged, and ashamed, that this is how the nation has welcomed home these brave men and women. But the hackocracy knows no shame, and its incompetence is so pervasive that not even the needs of our wounded heroes can move it.

4: Jim Nicholson
Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

In contrast to the four most recent VA heads--who had previously held leadership positions with Disabled American Veterans, the Department of Defense, a state-level VA department, and VA itself--Jim Nicholson brings a refreshing lack of experience to veterans' advocacy. Although he is one of the country's 25 million military veterans, Nicholson--who, after Vietnam, went into real-estate law and development in Colorado--is best known as a campaign veteran.

He chaired the Republican National Committee from 1997 to 2000, raising close to $380 million for the 2000 cycle.

In Bush's first term, Nicholson was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the Holy See. But he traded vespers for vets last February, joining his brother John, who was already head of the National Cemetery Administration.

In June, he admitted that VA had underestimated the number of veterans who would be seeking medical treatment this year by nearly 80,000 because it had failed to take into account the surge in enrollment by veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts--13,700 of whom have suffered blown-off limbs, bullet wounds, and the like. The miscalculation was a surprise to Congress, since Nicholson had written on April 5: "I can assure you that VA does not need [additional money] to continue to provide timely, quality service."

Republican House Appropriations Committee Chair Jerry Lewis said VA's failure to identify the problem and notify Congress earlier "borders on stupidity."

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