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Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm as an Army captain during the Vietnam War, lost his re-election bid in a bitter campaign against then-Rep. Saxby Chambliss. The GOP had raised questions about Cleland's patriotism because of his position on legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security. Cleland supported the concept behind the department, but insisted that a workers' rights provision be part of the bill.
While I think the GOP shouldn't have questioned patriotism during the campaign, there is, pardon the pun, an elephant in the living room in regards to Cleland.
All you'll ever hear from Cleland supporters is that he is a hero for his grevious injuries suffered while in Vietnam. What you won't hear is HOW those injuries were suffered - they were not "combat" related.
There are two sides to every story, and both sides are spinning hard on this, but you need to find the true story of how his injuries came about to put the entire saga into context.
I won't tell the tale here, I'll leave it up to you to go research the real story - Cleland supporters spin it to sound like it was combat related (not true).
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