Max Cleland and Ted Kennedy's Jacuzzi Meetings

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Max Cleland, the triple-amputee Vietnam War hero and former Georgia senator, has some great tales to tell in his upcoming bio, Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove. In one, he recalls a return trip to the Senate in January where he saw his old friend Sen. Edward Kennedy. Cleland embraced Kennedy, who suggested "another meeting of the Senate Water Resources Committee," code language for their Jacuzzi sessions in the Senate steam room. Another story takes place on 9/11 and concerns a meeting in his Senate office with Gen. Richard Myers, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The meeting started about the time the twin towers were attacked and just before al Qaeda terrorists smashed Flight 77 into the Pentagon. Months later the two met again, and both mused that Myers might be alive only because of their previous meeting.

Follow Paul and Nikki on Twitter.

Read more Washington Whispers.