FYI on Nicholson

     A short quote, from 1997, on the nature of the new Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, and former Republican Party Chairman (1997-2001) and current Ambassador to the Vatican.  In his favor, as VA Sec. he has no foreign affairs obligations, however, as you will see, he is a hardliner of the Christian Zionists.   This is from a contemporaneous article concerning the 1997 Republican National Convention, written by James Zogby.

Even more disturbing was the press conference held by the Republican Party’s new Chairman in which he pledged to use pressure to keep President Clinton from pushing Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians. “You’re going to see more attention given to Israel by the Republican leadership and that will result in more pressure on the Administration to help the [Israeli] government get to peace through continued resilience, strength, and preparedness, not through softness,” said Nicholson. While in Israel, Nicholson visited the recently opened tunnel in Jerusalem that sparked bloodshed one year ago and went to see construction of controversial settlements at Jabal Abu Ghnaim. He justified both Israeli acts saying that they did not look “provocative” and he would not “second-guess” the decisions of the Israeli government on these matters.