Coulter Attacks Cleland's War Record (ann coulter)

11Alive web site ^ | February 13, 2004 | John Shirek

[anncoulteriscool]

Coulter Attacks Cleland's War Record

Columnist and television commentator Ann Coulter, in a column published this week, said former Senator Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam, is no war hero.

Cleland, as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, is saying President Bush’s military record is inferior to Kerry’s service in Vietnam.

“The question should be: Where were you in the war of your generation? Did you take your place in the line? Or did you escape and avoid, by political means, and then cut short your tour of duty to go to Harvard Business School? I mean, John Kerry volunteered,” Cleland recently said on “Hardball With Chris Matthews.”

Coulter countered that Cleland is no Vietnam war hero, just a victim of a tragic, accidental grenade explosion who plays up his amputations for political gain.

“If Cleland had dropped a grenade on himself at Fort Dix rather than in Vietnam, he would never have been a U.S. Senator in the first place. Maybe he’d be the best pharmacist in Atlanta,” Coulter said in her column, published on February 11.

“He didn't ‘give his limbs for his country,’ or leave them ‘on the battlefield,’” Coulter said. “There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight.”

Cleland was wounded picking up a grenade that someone else had dropped.

Rusty Paul, a Georgia Republican Party strategist, said Coulter crossed the line with her comments.

“You can't take away from Max Cleland his record of service to this country and the sacrifice that he's made, regardless of the circumstances. To me, that's out of bounds to talk about that,” he said.

Paul, however, said attacking the politics of Cleland and Kerry was well within those bounds. “I think the voters would much prefer to talk about what George Bush’s view for the future is versus John Kerry’s rather than what happened 30 years ago,” he said.

Cleland was on his way back to Atlanta Friday night and was not available for comment. He is scheduled to spend Saturday in Georgia and then rejoin the Kerry campaign on Sunday.

[dts32041]

Yup been carrying the same one for over thirty years and still have two in reserve, rank it right up there with the M1911A1 as an essential piece of equipment.

BTW you can buy knock offs if you can't find the original.

[dts32041]

Ain't that the truth, but all I was alluding to, was for the masses, the campaigns of today are such gentile affairs, you won't find anyone accusing some one sister of being a thespian, or the guy running of being a homo sapien.

Then again history and civics are a forgotten classes in school today.

[metalurgist]

I had no idea they gave the Silver Star away for merely doing one's job. Cleland did nothing significant. Receiving a Bronze Star for those actions would be questionable. Cleland was awarded the Silver Star because he was an officer, just like Kerry.

The battle he was in happened 4 days before he blew himself up. They probably didn't submit his entry until after he blew himself up. Sympathy medal.

[Edit35]

"I love her for it, but this one is a bridge too far.

Couldn't disagree more.

Democratic candidates and their operatives started this crap with the utterly reprehensible strategy of using Kerry's dubious war record to make him look good, while trashing and lying about the President's.

It is time to turn the tables, and teach them a lesson, or they will continue to do this again and again and again.

When Kerry stood there and said "questions remain about (GWB's) national guard service," and when McCauliff called GWB a deserter, at that point, EVERYTHING is on the table, I'm afraid.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

M1911A1 makes a better pillow.

[Terry Mross]

I love your brother. Do I know him? No but he made the supreme sacrifice and that warrants him being loved by his country.

He lost his life because he was in a combat zone. Had he been an RE and been playing with a mine, lost his leg then came home and called himself a hero, he'd be in the same category as Cleland.

Remember, Bob Dole didn't go around showing everyone the "hole" where his sholder used to be.

[RonDog]

See also the original discussion threads about this:

Cleland Drops Political Grenade... On Himself [Did you know He Blew Himself Up In Vietnam?]
			Posted by 11th Earl of Mar On News/Activism 02/12/2004 5:31:52 AM PST with 56 comments Townhall ^ | 2/12/04 | Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter: Cleland drops a political grenade
			Posted by alloysteel On News/Activism 02/11/2004 11:11:19 PM PST with 219 comments Universal Press Syndicate ^ | February 12, 2004 | Ann Coulter
Cleland drops a political grenade
			Posted by perfect stranger On News/Activism 02/11/2004 4:48:18 PM PST with 237 comments WND.com ^ | February 11, 2004 | Ann Coulter

[RonDog]

"He didn't ‘give his limbs for his country,’ or leave them ‘on the battlefield,’" Coulter said. "There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight."

Cleland was wounded picking up a grenade that someone else had dropped. - John Shirek

Shirek writes this in a snide, condescending way that implies that EVERYONE (except Ann) knew the truth, that the dropped grenade was NOT Cleland's.

As recently as 1998, however, Cleland's OWN WORDS seem to support Ann's interpretation.

From www.josephsoninstitute.org/poc/cleland.htm:

The following are two of 41 essays from “The Power of Character” (Jossey-Bass, 1998), edited by the Josephson Institute’s Wes Hanson and Michael Josephson.

Strong at the Broken Places
By Senator Max Cleland

---

SENATOR MAX CLELAND is a Democrat from the state of Georgia. He went from being named outstanding senior in high school to Emory University to Vietnam, where he lost three limbs but not his purpose. Recipient of the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action, Cleland returned to Georgia, where he was elected to the state senate at the age of twenty-eight (that body's youngest member) and wrote the law making public facilities accessible to the handicapped. Later he became the first Vietnam veteran, and the youngest person ever, to head the Veteran's Administration, and then Georgia's youngest-ever secretary of state. In 1996, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. “He is an authentic American hero,” columnist David Broder has written, “an inspiration to people everywhere; a living, breathing testament to the power of the human spirit.”

---

The historian Plutarch termed it a “longstanding habit.” Another ancient philosopher called it “perfectly educated will.” And Goethe said it means simply, “In great and little things, carrying through what you feel able to do.”

They’re talking about “character,” one of the great preoccupations of sages and educators — and all those concerned with the real quality of life. However it’s described, character is an essential building block in each youngster’s growth to become a responsible, moral adult. I believe it is critical to bring to the attention of our youth the importance of character building and the teachings of morality and citizenship.

One develops “character” by overcoming obstacles and temptations. The temptations can be as mundane as choosing laziness over diligence. The obstacles can be profound — something I know quite a bit about myself. After I was wounded in Vietnam and lost three of my limbs, recovery proved a difficult time for me. How could I face coming back home after what had happened to me? In time, I would see the wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

 

Vietnam

I left my hometown of Lithonia, Georgia, a strong young man heading to a foreign land to fight for my country. Vietnam — another world, unlike anything I had ever seen before. I remember standing on the edge of the bomb crater that had been my home for five days and five nights, stretching my six-foot, two-inch frame, and becoming caught up in excitement. The battle for Khe Sanh was over, and I had come out of it unhurt and alive! Five terrible days and nights were behind us. In spite of dire predictions, we had held Khe Sanh. I had scored a personal victory over myself and my fears. I had become a soldier and could really look the old sarge in the face. As Stephen Crane put it in his great book on war, The Red Badge of Courage, “I went to face the Great Death and found it was only the Great Death.” My tour of duty in Vietnam was almost over. In another month I’d be going home. I smiled, thinking of the good times waiting stateside.

On April 8, 1968, I volunteered for one last mission. The helicopter moved in low. The troops jumped out with M16 rifles in hand as we crouched low to the ground to avoid the helicopter blades. Then I saw the grenade. It was where the chopper had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before. Shifting the M16 to my left hand and holding it behind me, I bent down to pick up the grenade.

A blinding explosion threw me backwards...

 

CLICK HERE for the rest of that excerpt

[PhilDragoo]

Then I saw the grenade. It was where the chopper had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before.

So, the guy who drops grenades gets a medal and slanders our commander in chief who flew fighter jets;

supports the guy who slandered our fighting men in Vietnam in 1971,

supports the guy who suppressed investigation of our missing POWs in 1993 so his cousin Forbes could make millions in Vietnam.

The guy who got a medal for dropping grenades supports the guy who got a medal for shooting a corpse.

And they both slander our commander in chief during this a time of war.

In the light of day all men reveal themselves.

[Hostage]

Yes, in the light of day they are emboldened by those that choose to blind themselves to the truth and not hold them accountable.

Thinking there is no one to counter their perversions they become ever more a prisoner of their own vanity and delusion.

A casualty presents an image as hero. A hero image becomes a slanderer and a slanderer would become ruler.

What will it take to return the attributes of modesty and humility to a central focus?

[g35x]

What is Ann's record of military service to this country?

I've held a live grenade, I've served in the military. She's way over the line and she ought to apologize

(and no, I'm not excusing Cleland's attacks, which are also wrong).

[AlbionGirl]

That's all the Republicans need is the facile Cornell Ann taking on a Vet who is a triple, count 'em, 3, three, 3, three, amputee! She's never going to be able to make the argument stick that he did this to himself, and therefore is not a hero, even if it's true, without making her look completely lacking in judgement, not to mention really, really cruel!!!Good lord, keep this up and President Bush will be buried by his own.

She should know better than to touch a third rail like this. p>Keep it up Ann, hand the election to Kerry, why don't you?

Learn propriety Ann, learn propriety!

[Hostage]

Ann is not the issue here. The issue is people like you that let shysters like Kerry and Cleland get a pass. Oh and McCain too.

I also served in the military and I have plenty of medals to show off. But I never do because I have more respect for my fellow citizen than to rub their noses in a conceited cersion of my own grandeur.

Cleland is no hero. He's a casualty in a war started and micro-managed by a group of self-appointed elites mostly democraps. Accept it and get over it.

[MeekOneGOP]

[LoudRepublicangirl]

The fact that such a big deal is being made out of who is a war hero and who isn't is really a non-issue in this election. Considering that Kerry voted in favor of military action in this current war then treats it as though it were a leper because things are not perfect is the issue. He likes to play up his own war record, yet I have not heard him speak to much about what he did after he returned. He likes to downplay the National Guard but what is he going to say to Guardsmen who are deployed in conflicts currently?

[joesbucks]

She is over the top on this issue.

Ann makes a handsome living on being over the top. We as Freepers love it. That is until she steps on something close to home or near and dear to us like she has in your situation. But in the end, she's more loved for her over the top statements than she is for the statements real thought and content.

[g35x]

Ann is not the issue here. The issue is people like you that let shysters like Kerry and Cleland get a pass. Oh and McCain too.

I'm not letting anyone have a free pass. My point is that it is wrong for someone line Coulter, who lacked the bravery to even enlist in the military, to question the military service of others (like Cleland) who did put their lives on the line for their country. Perhaps if Coulter had served I wouldn't be bothered by her comments.

[Hostage]

Ann can question any politician that lies through their teeth and she can question those that embellish their past including their military record.

She doesn't need military service to be qualified to do that. She need only be intelligent and she has intelligence in spades.

Go ahead and be bothered about Ann. I would wager you couldn't hold a candle to her sense of integrity.

She blasted the pitiful Cleland who first unjustly blasted George Bush. Cleland and his worshippers should get hammered as much if not more than they dish out and Ann is hammering them.

You don't like it? Then turn off your computer. You're not going to stop it.

[Hostage]

...who is a war hero and who isn't is really a non-issue in this election.

Well the democrat party has made it an issue. It is likely not an important issue to most people other than it shows the emptiness of the democrats in confronting Bush.

Ann Coulter was brilliant in turning the tables on Cleland and Kerry. By bringing it to national attention the little known detail of Cleland's clumsiness, she put Cleland on the defensive just as he put George Bush on the defensive.

And then there's Hillary who cunningly maneuvered herself onto the Senate Armed Services Committee. These sleazeball politicians are trying to puff up their military credentials to persuade the public they can be trusted with the national defense.

If I could tell Ann one thing it would be to keep firing away and save your best shot for the witch.

[hgro]

In short, it was a stupid mistake and yielded tragic results.

Stupid is as stupid does!