An interview with Max Cleland
This morning on NPR, former Georgia Senator Max Cleland was interviewed about his new book "Heart of Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove".
LISTEN HERE (link also includes the foreword from his book, which is an open letter to America's veterans).
I found myself enraged all over again upon hearing about the treatment this man, this veteran who lost three limbs to a grenade in Vietnam, by the United States Republican Party in 2002. They ran attack ads saying his claim of courageous leadership were 'misleading' and used the non-stop mantra from the classic Karl Rove politics of the time that he was unpatriotic. Saxby Chambliss won that election. Until this morning, I didn't know how much this loss affected Max Cleland and deprived him of the very thing he used as a sense of purpose following his service and time in Vietnam.
The sad thing? This is now the Republican strategy. They did it to John Kerry in 2004 with the Swift Boat ads. They did it in 2008 when they tried to paint Obama as a sympathizer who 'pals around with terrorists'. And they continue to do it to this very day, allowing the creeping undercurrent of attempts to illegitimize President Obama to go on unabated, unchallenged, and uncriticized.
Even more sad? The people who buy into it.
LISTEN HERE (link also includes the foreword from his book, which is an open letter to America's veterans).
I found myself enraged all over again upon hearing about the treatment this man, this veteran who lost three limbs to a grenade in Vietnam, by the United States Republican Party in 2002. They ran attack ads saying his claim of courageous leadership were 'misleading' and used the non-stop mantra from the classic Karl Rove politics of the time that he was unpatriotic. Saxby Chambliss won that election. Until this morning, I didn't know how much this loss affected Max Cleland and deprived him of the very thing he used as a sense of purpose following his service and time in Vietnam.
The sad thing? This is now the Republican strategy. They did it to John Kerry in 2004 with the Swift Boat ads. They did it in 2008 when they tried to paint Obama as a sympathizer who 'pals around with terrorists'. And they continue to do it to this very day, allowing the creeping undercurrent of attempts to illegitimize President Obama to go on unabated, unchallenged, and uncriticized.
Even more sad? The people who buy into it.
Labels: 9-11, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, beats you need, Brian Francis, Congress, Conservative, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Independent, Iran, Iraq, Joe Biden, Liberals, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, Political Inaction, Republican, Sex
posted by Megan Elaine at
10/06/2009
28 Comments
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