Max Cleland endorsement letter

[Gimpy]

Here is the former Georgia Senator and Vietnam Veteran Max Cleland's endorsement letter for John Kerry.

Dear Friends,

What do you call a man who risked his life for his fellow servicemen and saved his
crew and the men in his command?

What do you call a young officer in the United States Navy who won three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and a Silver Star for gallantry in action in wartime?

What do you call a young American who served not one, but two tours of duty in the war of his generation?

You and I call him John-John Kerry. And the challenge facing John's closest friends-those of us who know him best-is to make sure America gets to know him the way we do.

Because, if we can accomplish that, we will soon be calling him "Mr. President."

Having just been through a brutal Senate campaign in Georgia, I guess I know better than most what our Democratic nominee can expect to face in 2004.

Let's put it this way. To win a Georgia Senate race, the Republicans were willing to distort my record, ignore my personal history, and run ads putting my face next to those of Osaka bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. we can only imagine how far they'll go to keep George W. Bush in the White House.

Count on it. They'll question our presidential candidate's patriotism the same way they questioned mine. They'll twist and distort the facts and wrap their candidate in the flag-as if patriotism, love of country, and willingness to make personal sacrifices for American values were partisan issues.

Ralph Reed the former Christian Coalition leader and Georgia Republican Party chairman who devised and carried out the vicious personal attacks in my Senate race, is now a leading figure in the Bush re-election drive. It doesn't take much to figure out that his assignment will be to carry the brutal campaign tactics used in Georgia into the 2004 presidential campaign.

What you and I know is that John Kerry has what it takes to win.
John and I fought on the same battlefield in Vietnam. We bled and almost died on that battlefield. We were fighting terrorists and suicide bombers in a protracted guerilla war where we saw friends die and young men lose their limbs and portions of their lives forever. Because we were lucky enough to come home alive, John and I committed ourselves to living life as if every day after Vietnam was a gift.

That's why John Kerry and I are passionate about providing new leadership in the White House for a new generation of Americans.
But, I don't have to tell you about John Kerry. You know as much or more about his personal courage and leadership skills than I do. You and John have been through tough campaigns before and you've always run spirited energetic and principled campaigns.

That's the kind of campaign John's running now and the next few weeks will be absolutely critical. You and I have to make sure that, by the time the voters start making their decisions in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, they know what kind of leader John Kerry will be as our President.

John is the only person, Republican or Democrat, running for President who has ever experienced the sting of battle in war. That's why he isn't cavalier about sending young Americans into harm's way. But it is also why when troops are committed, they should be committed to win, and then brought home and given the respect the have earned.

As John say, "America should never go to war because it want to, but only when it has to." And he knows the importance of having a military second to none and diplomacy equally great. That's why John Kerry is the most qualified person-Republican or Democrat-to run for President of the United States and be our Commander in Chief of our armed forces. He's been there, done that, and gotten some holes in his T-shirt along the way.

John has served 18 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee spent six years on the Senate Intelligence Committee and four years before the tragedy that befell our country at the merciless hands of terrorist attackers on September 11, 2001, John wrote a book about the new threat America faced called The New War.

John Kerry knows more personally, professionally and politically about fighting terrorists who threaten America than anybody running for President. He is totally committed to making this country more secure through foreign policy, not less secure.
John also understand that the trickle-down economic policy of the current administration gives the biggest tax breaks to the 1% of Americans who need them least, while leaving crumbs for the three quarters of Americans who need them most.

Three million jobs have been lost since President Bush took office. We are not only less secure in our homeland, but we are also less secure abroad. We are less sound in our economic policy. More and more Americans are finding out that trickle-down economics means being trickled on. As George W. Bush's father once called it, it is truly "voodoo economics" and the hex is on working people in our country.

America is in trouble. Our citizens cry out for new direction and new leadership with courage, compassion and a sense of commitment to get this country moving again in the right direction.
Aldous Huxley once said, that "experience isn't what happens to a man, it's what a man does with what happens to him."

Vietnam was a defining moment for both John and me. When the Swift Boat he commanded came under fire from an enemy ambush, John Kerry did a very unorthodox thing. He ked his team and his crew under his command in a new direction. He did not try to outrun the ambush, he did not just stand and return fire or continue to be a target. He turned the bow of his ship towards the shore and began to attack the attackers. He surprised the enemy with his unorthodox move and won the battle. The ship was saved, the crew was saved and the enemy was killed and defeated.

We need that kind of leadership in America today. We need unorthodox methods that directly attack the problems facing America whether it is our foreign policy, the war against terrorism or the sinking economy that is pulling us all down.

Let's help America understand that John Kerry has the ideas to move America forward in a new direction to attack our problems, the leadership qualities to build broad public support for those ideas, the spirit and energy to get America moving again, and the courage to wage a winning campaign against relentless opposition.

Those are the qualities we need in our next Democratic nominee. More importantly, they are the qualities we need in our next President.

I'm proud to be one of John Kerry's oldest friends and newest campaign supporters-and hopeful that, as one of the people that knows John best, you will join me in supporting his presidential campaign at a pivotal moment in time.

Sincerely,
Max Cleland

Cleland, was awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action

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If he's good enough for Max-------------he's good enough for ME!

[BLUEHAWK]

Who could blame him for those words...

The answer to his message is in his seventh paragraph, that is all anyone needs to know. I believe his party loyalty, this time, is misplaced.

[Gimpy]

RIGHT about that "seventh" paragraph!

That should be "reason" enough for ANYONE to feel a sense of dismay and disgust which should cause a REAL "gut-check" for all who can support folks that would stoop as LOW as this administration has in promoting these types of attacks on such an Honorable man as Max Cleland.

His "party loyalty" is only a minor cause for his "endorsement" of Senator Kerry............it's his "loyalty" to a brother-in-arms and to what is morally, ethically and truthfully right that COUNTS!

[Gimpy]

is up to her old LIES and DECEPTION with this latest attack on Max Cleland!

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VETERANS Will President Bush Tolerate This?

Facing more questions about the President's National Guard duty, conservative allies of the White House did the only thing they could do: disparage triple amputee Vietnam war hero Max Cleland,, a man who only a year and a half ago the White House and its allies likened to Osama bin Laden and Saddan Hussein in television ads.

In a column posted on the conservative Heritage Foundation's Web site,

Fox News contributor and White House ally Ann Coulter unleashed an attack on Cleland's service to his country, claiming that the triple amputee/decorated war hero displayed "no bravery" in Vietnam.

The politically motivated assault came after Cleland appeared at events critical of the Administration, once again showing the conservatives pattern of impunging the patriotism of those who question their policy.

It comes just after President Bush himself nominated Cleland to the Export-Import Bank and after Bush called Cleland "a good Democratic Senator out of Georgia."

The attack highlights a new pattern of behavior from the White House and fellow conservatives: they wrap themselves in the flag, while slashing funding for Veterans health care, military famiies, and soldier pay - ? all while disparaging the honored service of those who defend America.

LA TIMES RESPONDS TO THE ATTACKS:

LA Times chastised the Heritage Foundation Heritage Foundation and conservatives for their attacks on Cleland: "The Heritage Foundation posts an Ann Coulter column saying...Vietnam vet and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, 'did not give his limbs for his country' because the grenade that injured him was not hurled in combat. How absurd and insulting to all veterans."

That has not stopped the attack from being republished and trumpeted in conservative journals throughout the country. It now appears on the website of Human Events Magazine ? the self-described "national conservative weekly."

The NYT reports that Cleland is responding to attacks from conservatives in kind

"This is part of an overall slime-and-defend strategy," he said. "They don't want to talk about Vietnam, and they don't want their candidates to talk about veterans' issues because it hurts the president."

One Republican running for statewide office in Nevada said he attended a meeting where officials from the Bush re-election campaign urged Republican candidates not to talk about Vietnam. "Basically, they're saying don't bring up veterans' issues and don't bring up Vietnam; our surrogates will take care of it," said the candidate, Ed Gobel.

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Well it looks like their "surrogates" are up to their old "tactics" again!

[BLUEHAWK]

"... this administration" has not directed a single attack of any kind against Max Cleland, ever, nor would they, ever.

[Gimpy]

Max himself has known from the start where these "attack ads" began....at the feet of the Whitehouse. Hell, George Bush himself even made several campaign appearances WITH Saxby Chambliss after these ads were running for several weeks on TV stations across Georgia.

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Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Chambliss attack ad against Cleland both misleading, reckless

An already nasty race for one of Georgia's two seats in the U.S. Senate has taken an even uglier turn.

U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican in the contest, is airing a television ad in his contest against incumbent Sen. Max Cleland, the Democratic Party candidate, that features Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Chambliss' message: Cleland is soft on homeland defense and doesn't support President Bush.

At its best, the ad is misleading. At its worst, it's an irresponsible and repugnant attack on Cleland's character and sense of patriotism.

Chambliss' ad says that Cleland claims to support Bush. "But that's not the truth," the ad continues. "Since July, Max Cleland has voted against the president's Homeland Security efforts 11 times."

What the ad fails to point out is that Cleland supported the creation of a Department of Homeland Security before the president did. Cleland also voted for Democratic-authored legislation to establish the new agency when it cleared committee earlier this year, according to an analysis by Associated Press special correspondent David Espo.

The Department of Homeland Security bill currently is hung up in the Senate, where amendments to the proposed legislation are the issue.

Cleland has opposed the administration "on amendments related to civil service rules and labor protection for employees of the new department, the disagreement that has blocked passage of the measure thus far," Espo reports.

It's clear that Cleland supports the homeland defense concept. It's equally evident that he differs on how the proposed legislation should be implemented. And it's insulting that Chambliss should invoke images of bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to confuse the issue and imply that Cleland doesn't have the best interests of his nation at heart.

Cleland, after all, knows more than a little about fighting for his country. As a company commander during the Vietnam War, he lost an arm and both legs.

Chambliss, who was granted deferments during the war, is quick to unfairly characterize Cleland's commitment to the security of his neighbors and countrymen. Perhaps the fact that he trails Cleland in the polls is the reason for the negative and irresponsible ad.

Cleland defended himself on the issue and condemned Chambliss' campaign for the attack.

"Accusing me of being soft on homeland defense and Osama bin Laden is the most vicious exploitation of a national tragedy and attempt at character assassination I have ever witnessed," Cleland said in statement.

"Protecting Americans is not political, and using Osama bin Laden in pursuit of a short-term political goal is an insult to every man and woman from every Georgia military installation now risking his or her life searching for bin Laden and his terrorist cadre."
Zell Miller, Georgia's other Democratic Party senator, was also furious about Chambliss' ad.

"Max Cleland is a courageous man who has given his own blood and so much more fighting for the right of all of us to live in freedom," Miller said. "My friend Max deserves better than to be slandered like this."

It's fairly certain from whom Chambliss is taking advice, the Whitehouse political campaign strategists. But, it's certain that attempting to drag Cleland through the mud for political advantage is a poor strategy. Worse, it shows no respect for the sacrifice Cleland made when his nation called him to duty more than 30 years ago.
For Chambliss to imply that Cleland cares little for his nation's security is preposterous. We're not sure a more reckless and devious plan could have been devised.

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[Gimptster]

I suppose it must be OK for Ann (Storm Trooper) Coulter and Whitehouse slime machine of political dirty tricks to impune and degrade and tell lie, after lie about an honorable Vietnam Veteran like Max Cleland in order to get him removed from political office, huh???

Don't see many "vets" around here to upset about THIS, huh?

But, just say something derogatory about the "Pres" and the "hammer" starts coming down!

Talk about a "double-standard" and "hypocritical" position!

This gets more and more disgusting!