“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”
There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.
The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.
In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.
In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military families gathered to express support for American troops overseas. “When we returned, we saw nothing like this,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Let us do better by this generation of men and women.”…
The New Haven Register on July 20, 2006, described him as “a veteran of the Vietnam War,” and on April 6, 2007, said that the attorney general had “served in the Marines in Vietnam.” On May 26, 2009, The Connecticut Post, a Bridgeport newspaper that is the state’s third-largest daily, described Mr. Blumenthal as “a Vietnam veteran.” And The Shelton Weekly reported on May 23, 2008, that Mr. Blumenthal “was met with applause when he spoke about his experience as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam.”…
It does not appear that Mr. Blumenthal ever sought to correct those mistakes…
Mr. Blumenthal has made veterans’ issues a centerpiece of his public life and his Senate campaign, but even those who have worked closely with him have gotten the misimpression that he served in Vietnam. In an interview, Jean Risley, the chairwoman of the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial Inc., recalled listening to an emotional Mr. Blumenthal offering remarks at the dedication of the memorial. She remembered him describing the indignities that he and other veterans faced when they returned from Vietnam.
'Yeah, I remember being under enemy fire in the rice paddies of Hartford.'
For lying about something that's so easily checked, this guy deserves to get dumped just for bring too stupid to be a United States Senator...and that's a pretty low bar.
update: So, what do you do when you're caught like that? Deny, deny and stage a presser with some rent-a-vets!
Stick a fork in him...he's done.
...... so which is the greater sin, lying about serving in S/E asia or lying about being a natural born american.
ReplyDeletethis guy is exactly the type/kind of individual that the socialists want to send to deecee.
senator blumenthal is polishing his nameplate as we speak.
I dunno..this is pretty damaging.
ReplyDelete"Stick a fork in him...he's done." If this were a Republican, I would agree with you, however, he's a Democrat.
ReplyDeleteIf he were a Republican, he would be done because Republican primary voters would not tolerate such an action and the media would expose the misrepresentation almost immediately.
Apparently Mr. Blumenthal had been engaging in this deception for quite a while. He probably operated under the assumption that the media and other Democrat party operatives would cover for him in this lie. I wonder what this man did to anger the NY Times and/or major Democrat party power players.
Equally puzzling is why was the lie even necessary. There is nothing dishonorable about serving in the Marine Reserves nor is getting a deferment a problem in and of itself. There is so little to gain by lying about this and so much to lose. Why would he do it?
In summary, this sort of thing will likely not matter much to Democrat Party primary voters nor will it matter much to hard core Democrats. Before the lie was exposed he likely was going to get all Democrat votes, most votes at the "center", and a few Republicans. Any Republicans he might have been able to pick off, are probably lost to him now. The Democrats will likely stick with him. How will voters in the "Center" view this lie? That's the major question and it will likely determine the election. While I don't think he is necessarily "done", his electoral prospects probably have become much more complicated.