Ann Coulter: Cleland drops a political grenade

Universal Press Syndicate ^ | February 12, 2004 | Ann Coulter

[alloysteel]

Former Sen. Max Cleland is the Democrats' designated hysteric about George Bush's National Guard service. A triple amputee and Vietnam veteran, Cleland is making the rounds on talk TV, basking in the affection of liberals who have suddenly become jock-sniffers for war veterans and working himself into a lather about President Bush's military service. Citing such renowned military experts as Molly Ivins, Cleland indignantly demands further investigation into Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard.

Bush's National Guard service is the most thoroughly investigated event since the Kennedy assassination. But the Democrats will accept only two possible conclusions to their baseless accusations: (1) Bush was "AWOL," or (2) the matter needs further investigation.

Thirty years ago, Bush was granted an honorable discharge from the National Guard, which would seem to put the matter to rest. But liberals want proof that Bush actually deserved his honorable discharge. (Since when did the party of Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd get so obsessed with honor?)

On "Hardball" Monday night, Cleland demanded to see Bush's pay stubs for the disputed period of time, May 1972 to May 1973. "If he was getting paid for his weekend warrior work," Cleland said, "he should have some pay stubs to show it."

The next day, the White House produced the pay stubs. This confirmed what has been confirmed 1 million times before: After taking the summer off, Bush reported for duty nine times between Nov. 29, 1972, and May 24, 1973 – more than enough times to fulfill his Guard duties. (And nine times more than Bill Clinton, Barney Frank or Chuck Schumer did during the same period.)

All this has been reported – with documentation – many times by many news organizations. George magazine had Bush's National Guard records 3 1/2 years ago.

All available evidence keeps confirming Bush's honorable service with the Guard, which leads liberals to conclude ... further investigation is needed! No evidence will ever be enough evidence. That Bush skipped out on his National Guard service is one of liberals' many nondisprovable beliefs, like global warming.

Cleland also expressed outrage that Bush left the National Guard nine months early in 1973 to go to Harvard Business School. On "Hardball," Cleland testily remarked: "I just know a whole lot of veterans who would have loved to have worked things out with the military and adjusted their tour of duty." (Cleland already knows one – Al Gore!)

When Bush left the National Guard in 1973 to go to business school, the war was over. It might as well have been 1986. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson had already lost the war, and President Nixon had ended it with the Paris peace accords in January. If Bush had demanded active combat, there was no war to send him to.

To put this in perspective, by 1973, John Kerry had already accused American soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, thrown someone else's medals to the ground in an anti-war demonstration, and married his first heiress. Bill Clinton had just finished three years of law school and was about to embark upon a political career – which would include campaign events with Max Cleland.

Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam.

Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.

There is more than a whiff of dishonesty in how Cleland is presented to the American people. Terry McAuliffe goes around saying, "Max Cleland, a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam," was thrown out of office because Republicans "had the audacity to call Max Cleland unpatriotic." Mr. Cleland, a word of advice: When a slimy weasel like Terry McAuliffe is vouching for your combat record, it's time to sound "retreat" on that subject.

Needless to say, no one ever challenged Cleland's "patriotism." His performance in the Senate was the issue, which should not have come as a bolt out of the blue inasmuch as he was running for re-election to the Senate. Sen. Cleland had refused to vote for the Homeland Security bill unless it was chock-full of pro-union perks that would have jeopardized national security. ("OH, MY GOD! A HIJACKED PLANE IS HEADED FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!" "Sorry, I'm on my break. Please call back in two hours.")

The good people of Georgia – who do not need lectures on admiring military service – gave Cleland one pass for being a Vietnam veteran. He didn't get a lifetime pass.

Indeed, 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, but not a U.S. senator. He got into office on the basis of serving in Vietnam and was thrown out for his performance as a senator.

Cleland wore the uniform, he was in Vietnam, and he has shown courage by going on to lead a productive life. But he didn't "give his limbs for his country," or leave them "on the battlefield." There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight. That could have happened in the Texas National Guard – which Cleland denigrates while demanding his own sanctification.

[Hon]

Not to nitpick, but that is a carefully written piece, buried in a local paper.

You'll note that there are a lot of specifics about everything--except who is supposed to have actually dropped the grenade. The name is never mentioned.

I don't believe it myself.

[Hon]

Don't be to sure. Go to the site. Re-read the article.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/7218941.htm

I don't see this claim made anywhere else on the internet. (I might be wrong about that.)

[Hon]

Which paper do you read?

"Cleland retold the story in 1999 on a History Channel program. Lloyd, who was watching the show at his home in Annapolis, Md., picked up the phone and called Cleland’s office.

The story, Lloyd said, was wrong."

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/7218941.htm

"Last year, new information about his war injuries emerged. A fellow Marine David Lloyd contacted Cleland on "Larry King Live" with a revelation.

"Here was a man I didn't know ... and suddenly he had the key to my life," Cleland said."

http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/113000/LOCbooksigning.shtml

[optimistically_conservative]

Isn't that the day MLK was killed? - Yes.

[highlander_UW]

"When the battalion command post came under a heavy enemy rocket and mortar attack, Capt. Cleland, disregarding his own safety, exposed himself to the rocket barrage as he left his covered position to administer first aid to his wounded comrades. He then assisted in moving the injured personnel to covered positions. Continuing to expose himself, Capt. Cleland organized his men into a work party to repair the battalion communications equipment which had been damaged by enemy fire. His gallant action is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Wow, well, this is infinitely more respectable a reason for award then chasing a fleeing wounded Viet Cong behind a shed and killing him.

[jla]

^

[optimistically_conservative]

You will find a number of conflicting stories including the rank of the marine and when/where he was contacted. This is typical reporter laziness/inaccuracy. The story is real:

Amputee War Hero U.S. Senator Still Fights for Survival
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2000/n01272000_20001274.html

Cleland's life journey began in June 1967 when he arrived
in Vietnam for duty as a captain in the 1st Air Cavalry
Division. His unit helped lift the 76-day-long enemy siege
on 5,000 Marines at Khe Sanh during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
Cleland recalled being thankful to be alive and unhurt when
his unit was relieved on April 5. But just three days
later, and a month before he'd have rotated home, his luck
ran out after he and his team had unloaded a helicopter.

As the aircraft lifted off, he saw a hand grenade on the
ground. Thinking he'd dropped it, he reached to pick it up
with his right hand. He never made it.

"As the story goes, the guy behind me was peppered with
shrapnel, but he didn't lose any limbs," Cleland said. "He
was crying and saying, 'It's my fault, my fault, my
grenade, my grenade!'" Apparently the soldier had been told
or scared into thinking that loosening the pins on his
grenades would make them easier to pull out in combat. The
pins normally come bent so they don't come loose
accidentally.

"So one of his grenades with the loosened pins fell off his
web gear and blew me up," said Cleland. "I've had a helluva
time coming to terms with that.

"The explosion blew off my right arm and right leg
instantly and mangled my left leg so badly it had to be
amputated," he said. "I was lucky to survive because my
windpipe was cut, front teeth were knocked out. I was a
bloody mess lying there on the ground -- dying."

"I remember somebody cutting off my uniform and trying to
tie a tourniquet and the screaming for a helicopter
medevac," he said. He fought to stay conscious. "I figured
if I lost consciousness, I wouldn't make it back. I'd lost
a lot of blood. My legs were smoking. I'd been so close to
the grenade that the flash burn had seared the flesh.
That's probably why I didn't bleed to death right there."

[There's millions of'em]

Good stuff. It appears Coulter has really missed the mark on this one and owes Mr Cleland a serious apology.

There's a lesson here for all of us..... we simply must have the facts before any accusation about someone's military service is put on the table.

[CyberAnt]

And as was pointed out by another Lt. who served with Bush, when Lt. Bush got out, the ANG was only too happy to get rid of him because with the war being over there was a gut of AF pilots ready and eager to fly ANG. It was mutually beneficial.

[FreedomPoster]

The bottom line for me: We booted Max because his close-to-Teddy Kennedy voting record in the Senate made him far too Liberal for GA. While many of us already knew of his Liberalism, the whole state really woke up and took a hard look in the wake of 9/11, and it wasn't pretty. Saxby Chamliss is our new Senator as a result.

[My Dog Likes Me]

I'll bet Ann has more severe bedsores than Max.

For different reasons.

[iconoclast]

Cleland did more that just "pick up a grenade". He was playing with that same grenade and made it live and then realized he was a doofus and jumped on it. He should have been discharged.

Sounds like he should have gotten the "Darwin Award" instead of a ticket to the Senate. ;o)

[Prodigal Son]

There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight.

Ann Coulter goes where I would surely not. I would not like to have every aspect of my military career under her microscope. She has a point. I'm not arguing that. But I draw a series of distinctions when criticizing one's service. Once they have passed the release point and are in a combat situation, I'm uncomfortable with how closely civilians should examine each thing that the soldiers do.

Case in point: the CNN video of the US Marine shooting the unarmed wounded Iraqi and his buddies cheering about it. Taken from the civilian perspective, that looks very terrible. But.... I would prefer not to try to judge that Marine too much on that. He's somewhere doing something that the rest of us are not. Hard to judge him rationally.

[demkicker]

So your reaction to Ann's article is to insult her? Typical reaction of a lefty.

[Godebert]

" Wow, well, this is infinitely more respectable a reason for award then chasing a fleeing wounded Viet Cong behind a shed and killing him."

Kerry didn't chase him (the VC) into the hooch. After the twin .50 gunner ripped it to shreds from the swiftboat....Kerry disembarked and decided to bayonet charge what remained of the Viet Cong's corpse.

[Godebert]

"I'll bet Ann has more severe bedsores than Max. For different reasons."

I smell a rat.

[Clinton Is Scum]

Max Cleland volunteered to serve in Vietnam. For that alone, he deserves respect. Let's face it--most people who served in the Guard at that time did so to avoid seeing combat. I like Ann a lot, but this column misses the mark.

[Stewart_B]

The grenade exploded when its cotter pin had fallen out, activating the explosive, said the 57-year-old Lloyd. The soldier told Lloyd that he had straightened the pins so it would be easier to pull them when he had to throw a grenade.

Jesus. How would you like to live with that on your conscience? Knowing your stupidity cost a man both legs and an arm.

Cleland did his duty and was a good soldier it appears. I may not like his politics but I wont try to denigrate that.

Anyone that would is no better than a clinton.

[RandallFlagg]

*sigh*

[samtheman]

That Bush skipped out on his National Guard service is one of liberals' many nondisprovable beliefs, like global warming.

Yup.