Victim Max Cleland

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland, a triple amputee from Vietnam, has been the victim of Republican smears that were lower than a snake's underbelly.

Joseph Maxell Cleland had run the Veterans Administration during the Jimmy Carter presidency, had been Georgia's Secretary of State and had represented that state in the U.S. Senate from 1996 until losing re-election to his Republican opponent in 2002.

Cleland ran afoul of the great Republican smear machine by criticizing some of the policies of President George W. Bush, especially the draconian and controversial Homeland Security bill.

Politicians will be politicians, of course, but the worst low blows against Cleland came during the time he supported presidential hopeful John Kerry. Cleland's patriotism was harshly questioned by the chickenhawk politicos of the Far Right, most of whom had never found it quite convenient to serve their country in uniform. These spokesmen were somehow able to turn Kerry's combat service into a negative andvia their gutter campaigning, make Cleland, recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Star, sound like an enemy sympathizer. It was revolting enough to gag a moose.