Related Columns WASHINGTON, June 26, 2013 — Georgia’s Democratic Senator Max Cleland went into the 2002 election season with a 22-point lead over his Republican opponent, Saxby Chambliss. Cleland was a Vietnam vet who lost three limbs at the battle of Khe San, yet Chambliss attacked him for “breaking his oath to protect and defend the Constitution” by opposing the Patriot Act. After months of brazen attacks on Cleland’s patriotism and ads subtly connecting him to Bin Laden, Chambliss won the race. In the decade after 9/11 it has been nearly impossible for a major political figure to question the relentless expansion of the security state without the risk of...
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