Former Senator Max Cleland

[AmericanDude04]

How did he lose his limbs. I know they say he lost them in the jungles of Vietnam. I am just wondering how it all happened. Was it a trip wire, ****y trap, land mine, or a RPG-7. Just wondering never really found out for sure what happened.

[MEGR]

"Wounded in grenade explosion April 8, 1968 (lost both legs and right arm)"

From: http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Max_Cleland

[AmericanDude04]

Thanks I had heard about his actions at Khe Sanh that earned him a Silver Star but it didn't say if the loss of limbs was suffered then or not.

[KB]

Cleland lost his limbs in a freak accident. As I understand it he was getting off a slick lifting a load of grunts. One of the grunt's frags fell off his LBE and the pin came out; Cleland reached over to pick it up and the rest is history.

[BlackRain]

One of the most detailed accounts of Cleland's life was written by Jill Zuckman in a lengthy piece for The Boston Globe Sunday magazine on Aug. 3, 1997:

Finally, the battle at Khe Sanh was over. Cleland, 25 years old, and two members of his team were now ordered to set up a radio relay station at the division assembly area, 15 miles away. The three gathered antennas, radios and a generator and made the 15-minute helicopter trip east. After unloading the equipment, Cleland climbed back into the helicopter for the ride back. But at the last minute, he decided to stay and have a beer with some friends. As the helicopter was lifting off, he shouted to the pilot that he was staying behind and jumped several feet to the ground.

Cleland hunched over to avoid the whirring blades and ran. Turning to face the helicopter, he caught sight of a grenade on the ground where the chopper had perched. It must be mine, he thought, moving toward it. He reached for it with his right arm just as it exploded, slamming him back and irreparably altering his plans for a bright, shining future.

http://www.anncoulter.org/columns/2004/021804e.htm

[HooyahCQB]

Yep. He used to think it was his grenade but someone in his outfit came forward a couple years ago saying someone else used to straighten the pins of his grenades and not keep them secure.

The Clelands lived right down the street from my dad in Dekalb County, Georgia. My dad mowed their lawn.

[chauncy republicans]

Yes... and G.O.P. Rep. Chambliss says he was un-patriotic and neglected his duty to up-hold and defend the constitution.

[BlackRain]

Yes... and G.O.P. Rep. Chambliss says he was un-patriotic and neglected his duty to up-hold and defend the constitution.

As usual you are wrong again.


Most famously, Chambliss ran a vicious ad on Cleland's homeland security votes featuring images of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. In the popular liberal mythology, the ad disgustingly questioned Cleland's patriotism. "To this day I am motivated by—and I will be throughout this campaign—the most craven moment I've ever seen in politics, when the Republican Party challenged this man's patriotism in the last campaign," John Kerry has said.

But that's not what happened. The ad, though sleazy in its use of Osama and Saddam, didn't question Cleland's patriotism. It questioned his political courage and judgment. It focused narrowly on his behavior in office and his actual votes against the Homeland Security Department. With images of Bin Laden and Saddam flashing onscreen, a narrator declared that, "As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators, Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead." The ad then listed Cleland's votes against the Homeland Security Department and said he was stalling "the president's vital homeland security efforts." It concluded: "Max Cleland says he has the courage to lead, but the record proves Max Cleland is just misleading."

Unfortunately, Cleland did a lousy job of responding to such attacks. As he was pummeled on national security—clearly the issue of the day as war with Iraq neared, Cleland stuck to stale Democratic themes like Social Security. Occasionally, Cleland and his supporters counterattacked, but they were ineffective. They reminded reporters that Chambliss had evaded serving in Vietnam and even tried in vain to drum up last-minute stories about Bush's National Guard service. Cleland also called in former Vietnam veterans to defend him and hit back at Chambliss—including, most prominently, John Kerry.

There's something patronizing about the way Democrats now view Max Cleland—and faux naive about the way they view his defeat. Was Chambliss' ad really that much worse than what happens in any election? Chambliss' criticism was based on Cleland's actual votes. The fact that Cleland volunteered for Vietnam and Chambliss avoided it means something, but it certainly doesn't mean that Cleland should be immune from all attacks on his Senate voting record. Georgians were voting for senator, not platoon leader, after all. And yet Democrats see the attacks on Cleland as categorically worse than any others. It's hard to think that's not partly an emotional reaction to a man confined to a wheelchair. But politics ain't beanbag, as they say. Cleland is hardly the first man ever to be savaged in a political campaign. Michael Dukakis, to name one, had a pretty similar experience: He was brutalized by Republicans who painted him as weak on defense, and he failed to hit back effectively. But you won't see Dukakis warming up crowds for Kerry any time soon.

[KB]

Cleland did an ineffective job of hitting back. Chambliss succeeded in getting an endorsement from retired USMC Gen Ray Davis (Korean War MOH winner), who was almost a god in veterans circles nationally, but especially in Georgia.

The ironic thing was the Bush Administration fought the Homeland Security bill for a long time, then changed positions and embraced it. They beat the crap out of Cleland over it. Chambliss secured multiple deferments to avoid military service in the 1960s; makes me want to puke when I see him in televised hearings on the Senate Armed Services Committee.