Good News for Peter Schiff: Blumenthal Never Served In Vietnam, Despite Claims

[bobbyw24]

Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.

“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.

Many politicians have faced questions over their decisions during the Vietnam War, and Mr. Blumenthal, who is seeking the seat being vacated by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, is not alone in staying out of the war.

But what is striking about Mr. Blumenthal’s record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans’ ceremonies or other patriotic events.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/ny...pagewanted=all

[Bern]

A disingenuous fraud? No wai!

[angelatc]

A disingenuous fraud? No wai!

Who served in the Nixon administration? It just doesn't make sense.

[K466]

Hopefully this is reflected in the next poll... if Blumenthal is not the candidate I hope we get another lame debater to pit against Schiff.

[Lucille]

Neocon central is all over this, while shilling for Simmons of course.

Bombshell: Democratic Senate candidate lied about serving in Vietnam; Update: Blumenthal responds, sort of

Update: It gets worse for Blumenthal. Meet his likely Republican challenger, Rob Simmons:
[insert military service here]
..............
Update: Lefty poll guru Nate Silver says Blumenthal must go. It’s really the only sane option. With a state as Democratic as Connecticut, there’s still plenty of time to find a replacement capable of winning the seat. It’s just going to be a closer race than it would otherwise have been, especially now that the military issue will refocus public attention on Simmons’s credentials. Ned Lamont for Senate?
.............
Update: Blumenthal’s outrageously outraged — but he doesn’t challenge any of the salient facts. Lights out.

“The New York Times story is an outrageous distortion of Dick Blumenthal’s record of service,” Blumenthal’s campaign manager, Mindy Myers, said in a statement.

“Unlike many of his peers, Dick Blumenthal voluntarily joined the Marine Corps Reserves in 1970 and served for six months in Parris Island, SC and six years in the reserves. He received no special treatment from anyone.”

Previewing a campaign event tomorrow, Myers wrote that “Dick has a long record of standing up for veterans. Tomorrow, veterans will be standing up with Dick.”

Blumenthal will hold a news conference tomorrow. He will be flanked by veterans.

The hubris of politicians never ceases to amaze me. How did this guy think he could get away with a lie so easily checked? Or did he deliberately sabotage his candidacy?

"He appears almost incapable of offering concise answers to even the most predictable questions, like why he is running for the Senate."

[Lucille]

Video: Blumenthal’s “outrageous distortion”; Update: Staying in

He's staying in? Hubris it is!

Not only does that show Blumenthal’s response to be pure bunk, it’s actually worse than it seems at first. Not only was Blumenthal taking credit for serving in Vietnam falsely, he was framing it in a way to make himself part of the victim class. Blumenthal’s argument in this passage was to remind everyone that America treated its returning veterans from Vietnam badly (and then oddly included WWII and Korean War vets) — and that he himself was part of that group.

It’s not the first time he’s done that, either, as the Times’ Raymond Hernandez reported yesterday:
[...]
It’s one kind of dishonest to burnish one’s military record with claims of battles never fought. Falsely claiming victimhood as a consequence of those lies is something else entirely, and much more creepy than the former. Blumenthal plans on appearing later today with veterans supporting his campaign. I’d guess that to be a rapidly-declining group, especially as this video and other reports make the rounds.

One question remains: how did Blumenthal’s record get out? Republican contender for the nomination Linda McMahon claimed last night to have discovered Blumenthal’s lies:
[...]
Update: According to the Wall Street Journal, Blumenthal’s staying in (via National Review’s Greg Pollowitz and Allahpundit). That’s as of 9:15 am ET. I doubt that will last, however. Blumenthal won’t have a prayer of winning a statewide election after lying about war service, not even in a liberal state like Connecticut. The Democrats will push him out of the race unless he comes up with a really good cover story for his serial lies about his war record. I don’t think PTSD will work, either.

[ironmanjakarta]

sounds like another john kerry moment. must be in the democrat dna.

i dont blame blumy for not wanting to go, lying about it is the problem.

[Lucille]

sounds like another john kerry moment. must be in the democrat dna.

i dont blame blumy for not wanting to go, lying about it is the problem.

Exactly.

[sb10]

Let Blumenthal self-destruct.

[ironmanjakarta]

hopefully mcmahon will do something stupid like this too then schiff will win for sure.