[img]1|left|Ari Noonan||no_popup[/img]Does it matter that a statewide political candidate lies about his military record, even if he does join a lengthy parade of addicted hyperbolics?
He didn’t merely commit amorphous fudging. He launched a whopper, over and over.
On an unknown number of occasions when addressing veterans’ groups, he spoke of serving in Vietnam when, according to The New York Times, he never served east of New England. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18blumenthal.html
Amazingly, this is not an obscure wannabe.
He is one of Connecticut’s most prominent politicians, Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic Attorney General of the state for the last 22 years. He is running for the U.S. Senate seat of Democrat Chris Dodd, another Connecticut doozy for whom lying is a two-generation family tradition.
The 64-year-old Mr. Blumenthal received five deferments at the height of the Vietnam War, the Times reported, although eventually he signed up for the U.S. Marine Reserves. For six years as a Marine in the ‘70s, he ran errands for his supervisors.
Vietnam never happened.
Admittedly, this chap deserves the lofty rank of five-star General in pure dishonesty.
I Didn’t Mean Anything
Here is the part that should assure the bum is kicked to the gutter, or at least is badly beaten in November when he figured to have a cakewalk against a vulnerable Republican.
After he had been found out by the Times, he lied about lying this afternoon.
The Associated Press reported:
“At a news conference where he surrounded himself with veterans, the far-and-away frontrunner in the Senate race said he meant to say he served ‘during’ Vietnam instead of ‘in’ Vietnam. He said the statements were ‘totally unintentional’ errors that occurred only a few times out of hundreds of public appearances.
“‘On a few occasions, I have misspoken about my service, and I regret that. And I take full responsibility,’ said Mr. Blumenthal, a trim, square-jawed figure with the bearing of a military man. ‘But I will not allow anyone to take a few misplaced words and impugn my record of service to our country.’”
Mommy, How Are Weasels Made?
Xeroxed lies are not “a few misplaced words.” They are intentional distortions. How do we know the weasly Mr. Blumenthal is lying about his lies?
Nearly everyone who speaks frequently will mis-speak.
This bum, however, purposely, knowingly, flipped his record in his favor.
Mr. Weasel told the identical, supposedly helpful, lie repeatedly.
This lie is on a scale with my saying — repeatedly — “I am married to Angelina Jolie” instead of “I wish I were married to Angelina Jolie.”
Mr. Weasel kept stacking up the snow as long as crowds were buying his lies. The Times said Mr. Weasel intimated more than once that he was a victim of the abuse heaped on Vietnam veterans upon their return home.
An obscure journal, the Connecticut Post, reported two years ago that, while addressing a veterans event in the community of Shelton, Atty. Gen. Weasel said, “When we returned from Vietnam, I remember the taunts, the verbal and even physical abuse we encountered.”
I suppose heckling from the anti-war crowds still is ringing in what, by now, should be his Mr. Spock-sized ears.
Recent polls had the liar ahead in the race by about 35 points.
Democrats say they are standing by him. How stunning. They remember that when Hillary Clinton lied in her Presidential campaign two years ago about landing in Bosnia, it did not hurt her. The Blumenthal lie is much less egregious, they reason creatively.
Perhaps the jackpot observation today came from a Washington Post story where a Mr. Weasel was portrayed as under-accomplished:
“‘He’s popular, but for no particular reason,’ said one senior Democratic strategist. ‘No one really knows him, and this fills in the blanks in a pretty devastating way.’”
