Former VA administrator and Georgia senator Max Cleland dies at home

[Arkansas Granny]

Former U.S. senator and Veterans Administration leader Max Cleland died Tuesday more than 53 years after a live grenade dropped by a fellow soldier in Vietnam robbed him of three limbs.


The injuries, however, did not take the unfettered optimism and grit that helped him climb from Georgia politics to some of the nation’s 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 senator’s 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]

1. ...K&R...

[Aristus]

2. ...

[dalton99a]

3. R.I.P.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. We have lost another 'good' man.

[dalton99a]

5. And the piece of shit Saxby Chambliss is still alive

[Botany]

6. "A true American hero"

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]

7. A great American hero and a great Georgian

RIP, Max

[Siwsan]

8. I was so lucky to have met him, during the Kerry campaign

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]

14. Same at Kerry's announcement in SC.

He was so sweet to baby blm, who was about to turn 3 at the time.

[themaguffin]

9. He was a good guy. I'll never forget what the GOP did to him. Fuckers.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Yes the way the GOP treated an American hero is disgusting.

[Greybnk48]

20. I will never forget how poorly the right wing scumbags treated Max Cleland.

They went right up to the edge of openly mocking him for being "crippled." It was breathtakingly vulgar and shocking.

[GoCubsGo]

29. :Yep. I will die mad about that.

[Grasswire2]

52. GOP has no concept of honor. For decades now.

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]

10. Requiescat in pace, good and brave soul.

[blm]

11. 😢😢😢

Such a good man. 🕯

[Champp]

12. Thank you for your service, Senator Cleland

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]

13. Damn. I have always been angry at how R's treated him---an American war hero.

But, I would rather memorialize him rather than feel that anger again.

RIP, Senator.

[gademocrat7]

16. Rest In Peace

Max Cleland was a good hard working man who did his best.

[Kid Berwyn]

17. Lived to make this a better nation and ours a better world.

Hasta Siempre, Hermano.

[Fla Dem]

18. A true American Hero!

RIP Senator Cleland.

[DinahMoeHum]

19. Rest In Power, Senator Cleland.

[Dawson Leery]

21. Never forget the way the GOP trashed this good man.

[RVN VET71]

25. Nor forgive.

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]

22. Cross gently, Senator Cleland.

[world wide wally]

23. What the Republicans did to him was the last straw for me.

I have hated Republicans ever since

[BobTheSubgenius]

51. Abso-f'in-lutely!

That deplorable attack put Saxby Chandliss right near the top of my Most Hated List.

[LoisB]

64. Me too. That is when I started despising them.

[DFW]

24. One of the first Democrats to have been "diebolded" out of office

One of our best, and far from the last to suffer such a fate.

[Hortensis]

26. "To live is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in the suffering," Max Cleland

That dropped grenade 53 years ago reset the course of his life to finding, and creating, that meaning.

RIP, and thank you.

[Hav]

58. I always admired him for his optimism

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]

60. Yes. I wish he knew in that picture what a great future

lay ahead. But voters do often break the hearts that earnest public servants pour into their work.

[SarcasticSatyr]

27. A good man, and a true patriot ..

Rest In Peace ...

[mountain grammy]

28. rest in peace..

[sarge43]

30. Stand down now, Soldier. Duty done.

[CaptainTruth]

31. RIP

[Alice Kramden]

32. K&R

[redstateblues]

33. RIP

[ProudMNDemocrat]

34. Met Max in 2006...

He came to Minnesota to campaign for Tim Walz. It was at a Veteran's Hall in Austin.

R.I.P Max Cleland.

[geardaddy]

35. RIP Sen. Cleland

[Duppers]

36. 🕯

[BradAllison]

37. The Republicans didn't start getting dirty with Trump

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]

38. Spokesmaggot for Chambliss, Ann Coulter

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]

39. A good soldier and man. Did not deserve the smears he got from the Chicken Hawk scum. RIP

[Hekate]

40. Cross gently, great warrior, with our gratitude for your service to this nation...

[IowaGuy]

41. I met him back in 2003....

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]

42. ...

[Pacifist Patriot]

43. I met him when I was in high school. Great guy!!!!

[BobTheSubgenius]

44. I hope the end came easily. Little else in his life did.

[senseandsensibility]

54. That's true.

A true, selfless hero.

[Tommymac]

45. Godspeed Senator Cleland

[gldstwmn]

46. May he rest...

[PCIntern]

47. What those Bastards said about him

was the first indication for me that nothing was beneath the Rethuglican Party as a whole.

RIP, Senator….

[MiHale]

48. ...

Peace

[packman]

49. A good man, a good soul

[UTUSN]

50. K&R

[senseandsensibility]

53. Thank you for your service and sacrifice

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]

55. I spoke with Max

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]

56. RIP. Nt

[ShazzieB]

57. Why have I never heard of this guy? (rhetorical question)

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]

59. RIP

[yardwork]

61. I will never forgive how he was treated in 2004.

[Historic NY]

62. I miss Max, they took Battle Monuments away from him, he was a

great administrator

[link:https://www.historynet.com/american-battle-monuments-commission-secretary-max-cleland.htm|]

[link:http://www.allgov.com/officials/cleland-max?officialid=28945|]

[link:https://www.abmc.gov/multimedia/videos/veterans-day-message-abmc-secretary-max-cleland|]

[gopiscrap]

63. RIP

I saw him in Tacoma one time

[Ilsa]

65. His work is done. May he rest in peace, whole & happy in heaven. nt