General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFormer VA administrator and Georgia senator Max Cleland dies at home
The injuries, however, did not take the unfettered optimism and grit that helped him climb from Georgia politics to some of the nations top offices.
A Democrat bound to a wheelchair most of his adult life, the 79-year-old Cleland was one of the first veterans from the killing grounds of Southeast Asia to enter American politics. He took a state senators seat in 1971, three years after his wounding, and went on to serve as top administrator in the U.S. Veterans Administration, as Georgia Secretary of State, a U.S. senator and an appointee in other federal agencies.
Cleland died at his Atlanta home from heart failure, according to a close friend and caregiver.
https://www.ajc.com/news/former-va-administrator-and-georgia-senator-max-cleland-dies-at-home/DWPONQVGLNBYDEJE6BMSW5LE2A/
RIP to a true American hero.
spanone
(135,844 posts)Aristus
(66,388 posts)dalton99a
(81,516 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,460 posts)dalton99a
(81,516 posts)Botany
(70,517 posts)What Rove, Saxby Chambliss, the right wing media, the GOP, and Diebold did this truly good man
should cause them shame but they have none. They attacked that good man's honor and his
character too.
Glorfindel
(9,730 posts)RIP, Max
Siwsan
(26,269 posts)He came to Flint and after his talk he stayed to talk to everyone who stuck around. I got a nice hug from Max. I'll always treasure that memory.
blm
(113,065 posts)He was so sweet to baby blm, who was about to turn 3 at the time.
themaguffin
(3,826 posts)Irish_Dem
(47,131 posts)Greybnk48
(10,168 posts)They went right up to the edge of openly mocking him for being "crippled." It was breathtakingly vulgar and shocking.
GoCubsGo
(32,086 posts)Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)It's depressing to sit here for a minute reviewing the events of the past few decades.
So many times, GOP has gone lower than a snake's belly to gain power. Not caring about the damage, the carnage they leave as they rampage. Disgusting, evil.
niyad
(113,348 posts)blm
(113,065 posts)Such a good man. 🕯
Champp
(2,114 posts)The Republicans disgraced themselves by attacking Cleland for his service to America, and then embracing a five-time draft dodging Casino Hustler to be their leader and demigod.
The Republican casino hustler called our men and women who serve the nation "suckers" and "losers" and not one Republican rebuked him. Not a peep to defend our troops. Thus we see the profound disrespect of the G.O.P. toward America's Armed Forces.
You, Senator Cleland, were also a casualty in the Republican war on truth, honor, decency, and American democracy.
Rest in Peace. You earned it the old fashioned way: with honor.
hlthe2b
(102,294 posts)But, I would rather memorialize him rather than feel that anger again.
RIP, Senator.
gademocrat7
(10,660 posts)Max Cleland was a good hard working man who did his best.
Kid Berwyn
(14,909 posts)Hasta Siempre, Hermano.
Fla Dem
(23,691 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,794 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)RVN VET71
(2,692 posts)My stomach still churns at how despicable they were -- and this, remember, was long before the Fat Man brought outright fascism to the GOP.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)world wide wally
(21,744 posts)I have hated Republicans ever since
BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)That deplorable attack put Saxby Chandliss right near the top of my Most Hated List.
LoisB
(7,206 posts)DFW
(54,409 posts)One of our best, and far from the last to suffer such a fate.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)That dropped grenade 53 years ago reset the course of his life to finding, and creating, that meaning.
RIP, and thank you.
Hav
(5,969 posts)and the joy he radiated in public.
It was heartbreaking to read in another thread here that he apparently fell into depression after losing that Senate race.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)lay ahead. But voters do often break the hearts that earnest public servants pour into their work.
SarcasticSatyr
(1,178 posts)Rest In Peace ...
mountain grammy
(26,624 posts)sarge43
(28,941 posts)CaptainTruth
(6,594 posts)Alice Kramden
(2,166 posts)redstateblues
(10,565 posts)ProudMNDemocrat
(16,786 posts)He came to Minnesota to campaign for Tim Walz. It was at a Veteran's Hall in Austin.
R.I.P Max Cleland.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)Duppers
(28,125 posts)BradAllison
(1,879 posts)A lot of people who are now praised for being anti-Trump were in on the shit with Max and proud of it.
RIP.
Submariner
(12,504 posts)smeared Max with trash I won't link here in support of that draft dodging coward Chambliss.
Saxbo the slacker said he had a football boo boo on his knee and could not serve, but the slime had the nerve to refer to Max as a Taliban supporter.
RIP Max
Evolve Dammit
(16,743 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)IowaGuy
(778 posts)I was volunteering for Kerry campaign. I was working on processing info from door knockers. This big gregarious guy in a wheel chair pulls up to the table I'm working at and introduces himself as "Max". Spends several hours making calls and also just generally shooting the shit w/ me and the 2 or 3 other people working there at the time. He was there nearly every day for a couple of weeks. I did not realize until a couple of days after our first meeting that he was the "SENATOR Max Cleland", he was just Max to me.. That is how unassuming and humble he was. He was a friendly outgoing person, generally interested in every bodies life and life story. The kind of guy who could and would be any bodies friend.
Tom Yossarian Joad
(19,230 posts)Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)senseandsensibility
(17,066 posts)A true, selfless hero.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)PCIntern
(25,556 posts)was the first indication for me that nothing was beneath the Rethuglican Party as a whole.
RIP, Senator
.
MiHale
(9,737 posts)Peace
packman
(16,296 posts)UTUSN
(70,711 posts)senseandsensibility
(17,066 posts)Senator Cleland. I wish you hadn't been treated so horribly by disgusting people who weren't fit to be on the same planet as you. But you are above such feelings of anger and resentment now, and will rest in peace.
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)on a few occasions. He was a great man and a credit to humanity. If you met Max and didn't come away feeling better you weren't paying attention. RIP brother.
BootinUp
(47,165 posts)ShazzieB
(16,426 posts)He sounds amazing, but I had to google just now to find out who he was. Then I had to google Saxby Chambliss to find out what he did that y'all are talking about, and yikes, what a sack of 💩 he sounds like!
Now I want to watch the Ken Burns documentary so I can hear Cleland's voiceover!
RIP, Max Cleland.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,612 posts)yardwork
(61,650 posts)Historic NY
(37,451 posts)gopiscrap
(23,761 posts)I saw him in Tacoma one time