Don't you just hate it…

…when somebody awful does something decent? In this case, I was almost driven to read a Robert Novak column, but thankfully Steve Benen did the dirty work at The Carpetbagger Report and serves up the relevant bits...

During an official Fourth of July celebration at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson bumped into each other. They are both steadfast Republicans, devout Catholics and congenial gentlemen, but to onlookers, it looked like an uneasy encounter. That's because Smith was right about a $2.6 billion shortfall in veterans benefits, and Nicholson's Bush administration was wrong.

Being right can hurt in Washington. It drove Smith out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee chairmanship, and it now may cost him becoming International Relations chairman. Nicholson represents an administration that operates on the principle that being in power means never having to admit being wrong. There is no sign of any Bush official or House Republican leader apologizing to Smith.

****

DeLay found it intolerable that Smith functioned not as an obedient Republican soldier but as a fervent advocate of former U.S. foot soldiers. At the end of the last Congress, the DeLay-headed leadership purged Smith from the Veterans chairmanship and from the committee itself for wanting $2.6 billion more for the Veterans Administration.

Credit where it's due. Novak's on point this time. In the Bush/Delay edition of the Republican Party, loyalty to the leadership trumps loyalty to the troops, or loyalty to the nation itself, for that matter.

Of course, you could explain it in more straightforward terms.

They just hate veterans.