August 25, 2004
CIRCUS MAXIMUS:
That '70s Show (JAMES TARANTO, August 25, 2004, Best of the Web Today)
"I called the media. . . . I said, 'If I take some crippled veterans down to the White House and we chain ourselves to the gates, will we get coverage?' 'Oh, yes, we will cover that.' "
--John Kerry, testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, April 22, 1971"Kerry is sending to Crawford former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, a frequent companion of Kerry's on the campaign trail and a fellow Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs during the war. Cleland . . . will try to deliver a letter protesting the [Swift Boat Veterans for Truth] ads to [President] Bush at his heavily guarded ranch, Kerry aides said."
--Reuters Aug. 25, 2004
Hi. I'm Max, but you can call me "some crippled veteran." Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2004 5:06 PM
(Al)Reuters makes a Freudian slip in the photo op captions on this.
Posted by: John Resnick at August 25, 2004 6:08 PMCharles Johnson of Little Green Footballs also has some thoughts about those captions.
Posted by: Ed Driscoll at August 25, 2004 6:30 PMThanks, Ed. Couldn't wind my way back up the bunny trail to where I originally stumbled across it.
Posted by: John Resnick at August 25, 2004 7:13 PMWhat do you call a multiple amputee who lies down and lets people walk all over him?
Max.
Posted by: David Cohen at August 25, 2004 8:31 PMCleland was a major league publicity seeker back in the 1970s when he was the head of Carter's Veterans Administration (since my father worked for in the VA's public affairs department, I heard all the stories). So it doesn't surprise me that given a chance to be front and center of the national press and television cameras, he would take up the chance to carry Kerry's water on this issue.
Posted by: John at August 25, 2004 8:59 PMNow that Cleland is gone I can stop hiding like I have my whole [si]ssy life and talk like a tough guy. You better run Max before I have Rummy kick your [butt] or Laura run you over with a pickup truck.
Now if you will excuse me I need to go service Prince Bander, I am his little white [McGreevey] after all.
Posted by: President G W Bush at August 25, 2004 11:49 PMIs Kos on the loose again?
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 26, 2004 12:18 AMWhat is it with liberals and homophobia?
Posted by: David Cohen at August 26, 2004 7:39 AMDid anyone see the story about Max and his current 'job' - appointed by President Bush to be a director of the Import-Export Bank? $136,000 a year. I wonder who paid for his trip to Texas.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 26, 2004 10:51 AM