Posted on 11/09/2021 7:12:08 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who lost both legs and one arm in the Vietnam War and was defeated in his 2002 reelection bid by a Republican who argued he was too soft on terrorism and homeland security, died Tuesday at his home at the age at 79, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
A close friend and care giver told the newspaper that Cleland died from heart failure. The family requests that donations to be made to the Max Cleland Leadership Program at Stetson University.
Cleland was elected to the Senate in 1996 but only served one term because of his 2002 defeat to GOP Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
fumble cleland...
Cared more about getting airport workers unionized than protecting the American people.
Lost his election because of it in 2002.
FTA:...Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who lost both legs and one arm in the Vietnam War....:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am recalling that his injuries were not due to combat. Am I confusing him with someone else?
He was injured playing catch with a hand grenade.
-PJ
Adios!
Unggg. That’s a bummer.
I thought years after the incident another GI coped to having had the grenade pin partially pulled and the grenade fell off his web gear and detonated?
I remember Max.
The only thing that I remember was Bill Clinton, I think, bitching that the Republicans were actually running against him, rather than bowing to him (because he lost his limbs) and handing him re-election.
But 6 years later, when McCain ran against Obama, I don’t remember the Dems bowing to McCain - they savaged him.
He misled people into believing that he lost his limbs in combat, instead of from an accident. Then he attempted to make his injuries the focus of 2002 campaign. It was something of a warm-up, IMHO, to John Kerry making his Vietnam War record the almost exclusive focus of his 2004 presidential campaign.
David Lloyd, a Marine in a nearby mortar bunker, rushed to the scene, took off his web belt and tied it around one of Cleland’s legs to control bleeding.[7] When the medics arrived, Lloyd left to help another wounded soldier, one of the two who had gotten off the helicopter with Cleland.[citation needed]
Lloyd says that the unnamed soldier was crying. “It was mine,” he said, “it was my grenade.” According to Lloyd, the private had failed to take the extra precaution that experienced soldiers did when they grabbed M-26 grenades from the ammo box: bend the pins, or tape them in place, so they couldn’t accidentally dislodge. This soldier had a flak jacket full of grenades with treacherously straight pins, Lloyd says. “He was a walking death trap.”
Footnote #8:
Thompson, Neal. “30 Years of Self-Loathing, and Then, Finally, the Truth.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel December 5, 1999: 1. Find Articles. October 11, 2006.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Cleland
“Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day.”
RIP.
K, thanks.
-PJ
Politics aside, he was a very nice man. My Mom worked for his campaign in the 70s when he ran for Lt. Gov in Georgia. He invited us to go to Washington when Carter made him head of the VA (before it was cabinet level) and he had us up to his apartment one evening. Very gracious host. He also got us VIP tickets to tour the White House (smaller tour group).
He sent me a very nice letter when I graduated from High School.
Then, he went to the Senate and got in tight with Teddy K. Totally ruined all the respect I had for him.
Still, sorry he is gone.
Was his heart failure a result of a Covid vaccine?
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