Bye Bye Blumenthal?
Connecticut Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal got caught in a big lie. He claims to have served in Vietnam, but he got 5 deferments.
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.
How very Dick Cheney of him. Blumenthal has repeatedly spoke in front of veteran’s groups about his service in Vietnam.
In an interview on Monday, the attorney general said that he had misspoken about his service during the Norwalk event and might have misspoken on other occasions. “My intention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward, out of respect to the veterans who served in Vietnam,” he said.
But an examination of his remarks at the ceremonies shows that he does not volunteer that his service never took him overseas. And he describes the hostile reaction directed at veterans coming back from Vietnam, intimating that he was among them.
WTF makes people lie about their military service? There’s really no penalty for not serving in the military for politicians, lots of people don’t serve in the military.
Is it too late to get a different candidate in Connecticut?
Tags: CT-Sen, Richard Blumenthal
Tom Carper claims to have served in the Navy. Has anyone checked that?
There’s clear historical evidence of Carper’s service:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.02338/
502 Bad Gateway is clear historical evidence?
Methinks your link copied wrong, Dave.
Dave’s link through google cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_5Ilr8wRgm8J:lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.02338/+tom+carper+navy&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Yeah… I was kidding.
I served in WW I. I remember the smell of mustard gas in the morning. It smelled like victory.
Blumenthal should aim higher. 5 deferments is about right for VP.
UI, look a little deeper. This Blumenthal thing appears to be a hit job, probably ginned up by Linda McMahon (yes, THAT Linda McMahon).
The NYT article has a long list of “examples,” but if you read the article, none of their examples are actually Blumenthal quotes that reveal a damning lie.
Blumenthal apparently has described his service accurately multiple times in multiple venues.
In fact, in the Norwalk event where he refers to “my service in Vietnam,” he begins the entire speech by describing his service “in the military during the Vietnam era.” The “in Vietnam” thing comes later near the end of a long speech. The whole video is on YouTube; if you look at it in context rather than just viewing the clips, it seems like a trivial slip rather than an intent to deceive.
The closest thing to a smoking gun is the two actual Blumenthal quotes, one referring to his service “in Vietnam” and referring to “when we returned.”
What – is a USMC Reservist supposed to refer to the troops as “they” rather than “we?”
We shall see anon. FWIW, Josh Marshall’s take is similar to yours. There’s also a story now that Blumenthal said he was captain of Harvard’s swim team and that’s not true either. I think Blumenthal has a resume problem and he needs to clear it up.
Democrats have until Friday to make a substitution if they want. The next few days will be critical for Blumenthal.
There’s also a story now that Blumenthal said he was captain of Harvard’s swim team
… which also doesn’t seem to be based on a actual Blumenthal quote.
What, is Blumenthal now the fact-checker for every newspaper in the world?
There are stories in multiple newspapers that say Obama lied about his place of birth and refuses to produce his birth certificate. Do we still have time to replace Obama for 2012?
I will say that if it was a hit, it was a good one and will probably work. There are now thousands of headlines and blog posts that say Blumenthal “lied about his record.”
Keep Blumenthal. Nothing on his record can top the crap on Linda McMahon’s record. Google Katie Vick.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/18/headlines#14
Richard Blumenthal: “We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam.”
” There’s plenty of money to be made…
by supplyin’ the army with the tools o’ the trade”
“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.”
You patriots at General Dynamics in Groton Ct. can rely on this draft dodgin’ whore to bleed the taxpayer white to unconditionally support your stock price and executive bonuses.
So give generously to me, Richard Blumenthal, in 2010.
Merrick Alpert (Dem Challenger) calls Blumenthal “a coward” and “a liar”
By Daniela Altimari on May 17, 2010 10:45 PM | Hartford Courant
Alpert, who is also seeking the Democratic Senate nomination, said the Times revelations are “pretty striking” and fly in the face of Blumenthal’s public image.
“As a citizen and as candidate, it’s shocking to see someone who has tried to craft this image of themselves as a fighter, as someone who is willing to always step up and tell the truth, to see him lie about serving in Vietnam,” Alpert said during a brief phone conversation tonight.
“He was a coward to go and get five deferments and he’s clearly a liar for standing up for his own political benefit years later…It’s disgraceful behavior from someone who is clearly not qualified to serve in the U.S. Senate.”
He was quoted as saying when we returned from Viet Nam. That is tough to explain. Personally, I think it will bring him back to the pack, but it won’t torpedo him. I can’t see him loosing merely because he is alleged to be a lying politician. It will become background noise to most voters.
I congratulate you for bringing the issue up. I didn’t think noting that a Democrat may be lying was worth my time to post.
Video with him saying when I served in Viet Nam. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/05/17/ct-sen_blumenthal_touts_vietnam_service_in_2008.html
He may have joined late and avoided going to the war, but he still served 6 years honorably as part of the Marine Reserves. The man didn’t want to go to war. we get it. He still found a way to serve when he could have gotten another deferment. There was no reason to go this far. Now honorable service looks dishonorable. It is a shame.