The other shoe just dropped and it was not just a few misplaced words. An Assistant AG in Blumenthal’s office says he heard Blumenthal make the claim on several occasions. But there’s so much more and frankly, it’s shameful. The reporter breaking the story is news veteran George Gombassy and he will be a guest at 9AM tomorrow. Read more
Apparently, Richard Blumenthal’s Icarus-like plunge was a long time coming…
“Former Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, a Republican who says he is a good friend of Richard Blumenthal’s, said in an interview Tuesday that he had watched with worry as Mr. Blumenthal gradually embellished his military record over the years.
As prominent Democrats in the state rallied to Mr. Blumenthal’s side on Tuesday, saying they had never seen him describe himself as a Vietnam veteran or chalking such misstatements up to a momentary lapse, Mr. Shays’s comments appeared to bolster the idea that Mr. Blumenthal’s descriptions of his military record had been somewhat embroidered, bit by bit, with the passage of time.”
Given an inch, Richard Blumenthal took another… and then another… and yet more.
You might call it “mission creep,” with the ‘mission’ being the getting Richard Blumenthal elected and re-elected over the years.
“Mr. Shays said he grew uncomfortable only last month, when he and Mr. Blumenthal attended a memorial for survivors of a building collapse in Bridgeport in 1987, and Mr. Blumenthal again brought up the Vietnam War. “He didn’t say he was there; he said, ‘when we came home’ and talked about soldiers being spat upon,” Mr. Shays said. “The inference was that he was in Vietnam.”
Mr. Shays said that he thought someone might eventually check Mr. Blumenthal’s record and find that he was in Vietnam, but in a desk job.
“If he’d stuck with what he said 30 or 20 years ago, he wouldn’t be in the trouble he’s in now,” Mr. Shays said. “He was a Marine. Nobody can take that away from him, but he never tried to play it up other than to say that he was a Marine.””
The problem is not that Mr. Blumenthal served in the reserves. It is that he lied about serving in Vietnam, presumably for political advantage.
UPDATE (Jim) : Here’s Bloomenthal answering the Shays allegations.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsxP1rqZ7Z4
I speak repeatedly about my service during the Vietnam era to highlight that we dishonored and disrespected our military men women and veterans during that period… we have learned an important lesson during those years and it’s a lesson that I highlight again and again and again and mention my own service as a means of doing it that we owe our men and women of the military unconditional support.
Of course, he never answered the question and never responded to Shays. Instead he chose behind a message that is a little more than ironic. He lied about his service to lecture us on honoring people who serve. Too much.
Actually, I think its just the opposite. It is he, I think, who impugns the service of other Vietnam veterans. But it is the classic case of smoke and mirrors and setting up the straw man. Oh, and get ready you vets for the second video here. Prepare to blow a lid or two. When asked if there would be an apology to the vets who did serve “in country”, the answer was no. Shameful. Read more
The Connecticut Dumbocrats reportedly are not taking any chances and are already lining up a replacement for CT AG Richard Blumenthal. And why not? It’s what they do best. Let’s see. Their first choice couldn’t remember the truth … and their second choice stretched the truth. Now, reportedly, their third choice is the very man who told all of us we could keep our insurance and our doctor if we passed the Health Care Bill … ummm … also untrue.
Here’s the scorecard on the Dumbocrats … or maybe we should call them. Pinnochiocrats. Read more
It is always dangerous when a politician “goes off script.” Sometimes the truth comes out, like Barak Obama talking to Joe the Plumber about “spreading the wealth around. ” Sometimes, things go a little aglee, leaving the candidate with egg on their face, like every other time that Joseph Biden opens his mouth. And sometimes… sometimes things go very wrong indeed… Read more
On O’Rielly’s program the other day, Bernard Goldberg reminded us that Accuracy in Media reported – with little fan-fair years ago – that CBS producer Mary Mapes knew President Bush (43) had volunteered to go to Vietnam with his Texas Air Guard unit, a fact Mapes and Dan Rather left completely out of the story in the fall of 2004.