actual veteran max cleland, on his reaction to operation flight suit:

"I'll tell you the truth. I thought, "Oh my God." A man who deliberately got out of going to Vietnam by hiding out in the National Guard and who did not even complete his National Guard tour of duty, now walks onto an aircraft carrier in a flight suit with helmet under his arm, as if he's Tom Cruise in "Top Gun," and "Mission Accomplished." "

this quote, and many others, from a barn-burner of an interview in salon.com. atrios has it linked, if you want, but it's premium content.

cleland, also a member of the 9/11 commission, calls the administration's compliance level "nixonian."

the article also harks back to saxby chambliss's despicable attack ad that showed pictures of cleland (who by the way lost three limbs in vietnam) next to pics of saddam hussein and osama bin laden, attempting to show that he was "soft on terror." cleland's numbers plummeted, and he lost his seat. it's funny, how many ways the republicans have thought of to screw well-intentioned people. they lied to cleland, and he voted for the october authorization. he says in the interview that he regrets that vote and feels "duped." then they lied about his record on terror, and he lost his seat.

lucky for us, he's now publicly pissed. let's hope he gets a ton of air on this.