Breaking: VA Secretary Jim Nicholson resigns.

Breaking: VA Secretary Jim Nicholson resigns.Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who oversaw the degeneration of conditions at the Walter Reed military hospital has resigned.


Nicholson’s primary qualification for the VA job was serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1997 to 2000, “raising close to $380 million for the 2000 cycle.” In March, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) called for a resignation, noting that his appointment was purely political and looked “like a Brownie situation.”

UPDATE: In February, Nicholson tried to downplay the number of injured veterans, claiming that “a lot of them come in for dental problems.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/17/breaking-va-secretary-jim-nicholson-resigns/

then fix their freaking teeth. Damn -- what planet is this guy living on? Good riddance...

Jeez these guys are scumbags. Clueless scumbags who seem indifferent to the real costs of health care.

did his part for bush, proved that the government does not work. No doubt the decider will come up with another heartless, incompetent, government hating christian conservative to "take care" of our veterans (a group I proudly belong to.)

Whose campaign he resurfaces with. Prolly Hollywood Freddie.

If that were the case, he would have resigned
months ago.

No, we're told his only qualification is as a
Repub fundraiser, so I reckon he's being hired
by someone's campaign.

...another incompetent leaves the mega incompetent Bush Admin. Now IF ONLY Bush and Cheney left office, too.

Golly gee.

"Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who oversaw the degeneration of conditions at the Walter Reed military hospital has resigned."


Walter Reed Hospital is not a VA hospital. It treats (or fails to treat, depending on one's perspective) active-duty soldiers, and is thus under the purview of the Dept. of Defense, not the VA.

fix things?

we have been through this before.

when a Knight of Malta resigns. The boys are usually the last to go. Perhaps he's cashed out and heading for Paraguay.

About as much of an "Expert" as Bush is! Bush is an Expert Dipshit!

"Nicky is a true republicon, in every sense of the term. Smirk, smirk, smirk."

- Commander AWOL

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/WoodruffReports /
To Iraq and Back and other videos

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/arts/television/27watc.html?ex=1188190800&en=65dc02b9fb64c844&ei=5087&excamp=GGHEbobwoodruff
One Man’s Survival Story Becomes a Rallying Cry
The TV Watch | 'To Iraq and Back'

The film notes that the Department of Defense puts the number of men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at about 23,000, while the Department of Veterans Affairs has recorded treating more than 200,000 veterans of those two wars. Paul Sullivan, the director of programs at the advocacy group Veterans for America, says, “What you have are two sets of books.”

Mr. Woodruff politely asks the secretary of veterans affairs, R. James Nicholson, to explain the discrepancy. Citing department reports that list 73,000 mental disorders, 61,000 diseases of the nervous system and others, Mr. Woodruff says, “These are huge numbers beyond the 23,000.”

Mr. Nicholson, a Vietnam veteran and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, replies, “A lot of them come in for, for dental problems.”

Mr. Woodruff illustrates quite graphically that some veterans are sent home to recuperate in smaller cities that do not have veterans’ hospitals equipped to handle the growing number of those returning with severe traumatic injuries. He interviews a young soldier who is slowly but steadily recovering at a state-of-the-art veterans’ polytrauma rehabilitation center in Tampa, Fla., then checks in on him weeks later in his hometown in Texas, where he has noticeably regressed.



http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2910973
An Unforeseen Cost of War
Thousands of Veterans Are Returning From War With Traumatic Brain Injuries


"The Department Of Defense saying that there's 23,000 wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Department Of Veterans Affairs is actually treating 205,000 veterans from these two wars," Sullivan said.

snip

Jim Nicholson, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, acknowledges that there are delays in the system, but says the department is struggling to overcome a lack of knowledge about TBIs.

"This is a relatively new phenomenon. We are all doing intense research on it," Nicholson told "GMA's" Robin Roberts.

After six years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, veterans' affairs advocates are asking why the VA did not take action sooner.

hmmm....spending more time with family perhaps?? What a joke!

First, I'm thrilled he's gone. He cared about vets in much the same way Bush cares about troops ..... in other words ..... NOT.

But how was he responsible for Walter Reed as implied in the OP?

Walter Reed is DoD ....... the VA is totally separate.

Am I missing something?