Max Cleland Memoir Uncomfortable Truth
Max Cleland’s new book, Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed, and Karl Rove, has an October 6 publication date. The AJC’s Political Insider, Jim Galloway, has been paging through it:
Cleland rose in Georgia politics in large part because of that irrepressible grin and a persona that beamed indefatigable optimism. No little grenade was going to stop him.
“Heart of a Patriot” (Simon & Schuster, $26) has much of the dark stuff that “Strong at the Broken Places” left out: Cleland’s violent transition from a “tall, tan and tantalizing” paratrooper to a triple amputee, the first visit from his parents at Walter Reed, his bouts with despair and the black dog of clinical depression _ the pain that a man in public life is required to keep from view.
It is revisionist history in the way of a man who has no more reason to couch his personal story in Kiwanian platitudes. Not self-pitying, but certainly confessional. [...]
I’d forgotten small things, like the fact that Cleland lost his limbs in the days after Martin Luther King’s assassination in April 1968 _ and that he won his first election as a state senator campaigning on a pair of artificial legs, which proved to be pure torture.
The chapter on his 2002 Senate loss reflects Cleland’s lingering anger toward Saxby Chambliss, the Republican who beat him, and the GOP machine _ Ralph Reed is given specific mention _ that helped take him out
Some excerpts:
_ “….When I lost my reelection bid for the U.S. Senate in 2002, my life fell apart. The staff that had helped me politically and physically so I could keep on running with no legs was gone. The please of having a job worth doing and the money to keep me afloat were gone. My relationships began to crumble, especially the one with my fiancee.
_ “From time to time, I am overwhelmed by the sense of meaninglessness I feel regarding the Vietnam War, in which I was a young participant, and the Iraq War Resolution, which I voted for as a U.S. senator. To keep my sanity, I must not dwell on my part in those disastrous episodes in American history. I try not to blame myself too much.”
_ “Whereas we had been treated with respect at Walter Reed, at the VA we were treated like mental patients who needed to be controlled and supervised. We weren’t even allowed to play ping-pong after 4:15 p.m.”
Cleland writes of his lingering anger toward Saxby Chambliss, who defeated him in a bruising 2002 election that featured Ralph Reed and the now notorious Diebold touch-screen voting machines. But there’s no smoking gun.
I’ll be interested anyway. Cleland is a real American hero. Says Galloway, “To be a genuine conspiracy theorist, one has to give up one’s beliefs in other, indisputable facts. And Cleland has not done that.”
Meanwhile, The Huff Post headlines its post on the book, Former Senator Unloads On Enemies, Dishes Lewinsky Dirt.
7 Responses to “Max Cleland Memoir Uncomfortable Truth”
I think Cleland was treated to a particularly vicious campaign and I do not condone that in any way shape or form, but he entered national politics and you have to be prepared for that. Its a shame but its the truth, if he didn't know what he was getting into, he probably wasn't the right man for the job. You need an iron will and not a feeling of helplessness during and after such setbacks. I do feel sorry for him, however, I might not have liked his policies but he is a good man. Of course so was Jimmy Carter (stupid race baiting comments aside), but Carter was a disaster as a President (not as bad as Bush Jr but a disaster nonetheless).
LOL Leo I agree 90% with your comment. But I do think Chambliss needed the dirt to win.
Cleland has no knees…
Cleland also is crying just a little bit too loud, he didn't shy away from negative advertising either during that campaign. I appreciate his valor in serving our nation bravely, but he was no saint when it came to campaigning either. Still nothing wrong with him making a buck by selling a book to his supporters like anyone else.
Unfortunately, often those who are shameless about their tactics and personal behavior seem to thrive in the political realm, while those who have real integrity are winnowed out.
Its sad that Chambliss' below the belt tactics took out a real American hero.
“but [Cleland] entered national politics and you have to be prepared for that..”
I am sorry, but nothing, absolutely nothing—no national politics, no nothing– excuses “that”: the shameless, cowardly smear campaign at times aimed specifically at the very heroism and sacrifice of a triple amputee Vietnam war hero.
And, I would say this about both political parties, if such occasions arise/have arisen.
Just a personal opinion. Nothing to write home about.
I agree, I shouted down any during the 2008 campaign that tried to go after McCain's record as a POW. I do not freakin care what happened there unless he sold out and got sent home quickly he is a hero for it and I say this as a man that voted for Obama for policy reasons but for pure heart and soul I wanted to vote the other way…I just did not agree with him like I did in 2000. Either way certain methods should not be used, namely peoples actions in war should be off limits since it was done not for them but for all of us(I feel differently about actions done to avoid war, see Clinton and Bush). Whether you are Kerry, Cleland McCain or anyone else it does not matter. It not only cheapens and blemishes their honorable service it also does the same for those that served with them and those in the entire war. That campaign did not just hurt Max, it hurt my uncles and friends fathers(many of whom are Republicans) that were in that damn war too and for that I will throw down. To be honest though I cant think of much else that is off limits other than that or family.
At the risk of establishing a “mutual agreement society,” I agree with you (also) on the part that family, especially children, must be off limits. No politician “signed up” to see, nor deserves to see, his children attacked.
Thanks
Dorian