The NYT/GOP hit piece on Blumenthal

[ProSense]

The whole thing is weird.

I watched the clip of the lie, and it's hard to imagine how someone could make such a mistake. The only thing that may explain it is that Blumenthal was referring to his time in the Marine Reserves during the 70s.

The NYT obviously searched out every story to create the illusion of a really damaging report:

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.” 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.”

And the idea that he served in Vietnam has become such an accepted part of his public biography that when a national outlet, Slate magazine, produced a profile of Mr. Blumenthal in 2000, it said he had “enlisted in the Marines rather than duck the Vietnam draft.”

It does not appear that Mr. Blumenthal ever sought to correct those mistakes.

link

Seriously, that is a weak Rove-like claim. He didn't correct these reports so they are his misstatements?

From WaPo:

In a televised March debate, Blumenthal stated clearly he had not actually served in Vietnam during the conflict when asked a question about using military force in Iran.

What we have is a two-year-old misstatement vs. the recent and accurate one made by in person by Blumenthal in the March debate.

This is certainly embarrassing, but given Blumenthal's record of service as Connecticut's AG, I cannot see why this misstatement should bring down his candidacy. Besides, the Republicans are hypocrites on this. They lie with abandon.

Here is Josh Marshall:

Reading your emails, it seems pretty clear that most of our readers who've written in think the Richard Blumenthal story is devastating for him and not just a bump in the road. I have to confess though that even on a few readings I found the piece weaker than the billing. As I noted below, that one quote from Blumenthal from 2008 is devastating. Clearly serving or not serving in a war zone is something you have a pretty palpable and immediate recollection of. And given the guy's other ambiguous statements about what he was doing during Vietnam, you do have to wonder, what was going through his head? (And yes, that's meant largely rhetorically.)

All that said, I can't help a level of media critique. Given the Times' resources, I can pretty much guarantee you that they fielded a small army of researchers to find other instances where he said the same thing. But apparently they couldn't find any. Certainly nothing as clear cut. So to fill out the piece they focused on his history of deferments and even tossed in the marginally relevant fact that profiles of him have stated that he was the captain of the swim team at Harvard, even though he wasn't on the team.

I can't come down really hard on one side or another on this. Clearly he didn't find himself claiming he served in Vietnam in that one case out of the blue. The piece in its totality does paint a very damaging picture. But I still can't help noticing that it relies on a single quote when many others have him saying he was never there. Thoughts?

[marylanddem]

1. He lied.

He did not "accidentally" claim to be "in" Vietnam. Being in the National Guard in no way equates to being "in" Vietnam. The Democratic party of Connecticut needs to find a new non-lying candidate (but good luck with that one)

[ProSense]

2. "He did not accidentally claim to be "in" Vietnam."

Hillary Clinton did not accidentally claim to be under sniper fire.

Bil Richardson did not accidentally claim to have been drafted by a MLB team.

Bill Clinton...never mind.

Barack Obama did not accidentally claim he didn't campaign on a public option.

When someone comes along and proves that Blumenthal repeatedly made this misstatement and included it on his resume, then I'll be convinced he is a liar. Otherwise, it's a single misstatement and a lot of bullshit hearsay.

You know, the whole thing is not weird, it's ridiculous.

[mkultra]

12. sorry, but im not with you on this one Pro

i saw the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3KgsgRfjhQ

and it sure looks like he is lying to me.

For the record, i think Hillary was lying about sniper fire too which turned me off.

Some people are more flexible with it than others.

[ProSense]

14. He lied one time?

Again, where is there evidence that he repeatedly lied about this?

The NYT has a lot of resources. The wrote an exhaustive piece, and it only includes one direct quote.

Why didn't he lie during the March debate?

[atreides1]

16. Is that the standard now?

Not the fact that you lied, but how many times you lied?

If the man lied once, he's bound to lie again. Maybe not about his "service", perhaps something else, something that might be more important!

[ProSense]

21. Can you prove it was a lie and not a misstatement? n/t

[vssmith]

26. Everyone in politics lies

In fact most people in life lie when it is more convenient than the truth

[mkultra]

32. yeah, but brazen lies are next level shit

I would still vote for him over a wrestler though.

[Jennicut]

3. Well, it is up to us folks in Connecticut to decide if this is a big issue or not.

It does seem like Blumenthal had the last statement on his service as the correct one. I honestly don't know what people here will think but I can tell everyone this, we don't have any great candidates lined up and everyone good is running for something else. Not sure who we could find.

[brendan120678]

6. Don't worry....

Mike Jarjura will step up and take his spot :rofl:

After all, he's publicly announced that he was considering almost all the other state-wide offices, why not go for Senator as well?

:sarcasm:

Seriously, though - I don't think that this will have a major impact at all. The state convention is coming up very soon, and the primaries are still months away. Blumenthal has plenty of time to recover.

[Jennicut]

10. Well, we are not the land of purity in politics either. (Eddie Perez...see ya).

Is this that big of a deal here? And McMahon is so trying to buy her way to this seat.
And Jarjura...go clean up Waterbury already. My husband works at Yankee Gas in Waterbury. That is all I need to say.

[ProSense]

8. You're right.

No matter how much shouting, denying and outrage ensues, the people of Connecticut will decide.

There is a trend of late toward kneejerk, inflexibility and refusal to consider all sides of the story.

Is what Blumenthal did worse than what Eliot Spitzer did?

[karynnj]

4. Where were people parsing every sentence last January in the MA race

When Brown ran in January, in a puff piece, the Boston Globe wrote - without questioning Brown's absurd claim.

""Brown describes himself as “probably one of the most qualified soldiers in the entire Massachusetts ,’’ having been an enlisted man and trained in infantry, airborne, and quartermaster duties and joining the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in 1994." http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/07/guard_service_a_key_to_candidate_brown/?page=3

Now, I don't know enough of the military to know if he was an "enlisted man", but this is an insult to all the NG troops who actually served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet this was not questioned last January.

[ProSense]

5. Yeah, the guy the media

seem to want to groom for President.

[karynnj]

7. Yep, in spite of the fact that he is over his head as Senator

This transcript is the funniest thing I have read this year - until I saw how the Boston Globe, the NYT "liberal" paper cleaned it up in their web video and article.

Transcript:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/09/transcript_from_the_interview_with_scott_brown

Article and Video:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/05/09/a_star_from_day_one_brown_settles_in

[Clio the Leo]

9. The GOP opposition SOURCED hit piece you mean...

.... I'll post the info on this as soon as I can find it again ... but yeah .... the information the NYT got for this came from Blumenthal's potential GOP opponent. They've take credit for it like the Taliban took credit for the Time Square bombing attempt

[Jennicut]

11. Oh, Linda McMahon totally supplied the info. She couldn't have beat him any other way.

Of course, it takes two to make a scandal or misstatements happen. Blumenthal should have known better or been more careful.

McMahon admitted she gave the info...she is such a, well I don't feel like posting it.

[Clio the Leo]

13. He said it two years ago...

.... a fact I didn't even realize until this morning. It's not like he said it ON the campaign trail. Two things...

1. He's got an event with Vets today .... should be interesting.

2. Thank goodness for Mark Souder! lol

[Jennicut]

15. Ah, another GOP family values idiot bites the dust.

As for Blumenthal ,I guess it is a wait and see thing here. I will be watching the local news here tonight for sure (if I can get the kids to not watch Spongebob at 5:00pm!)

[CTyankee]

18. I hope he makes a clean slate of it. Apologizes. Take responsibility.

Be honest and forthright. Don't overdo it but don't be at all equivocating. He might be able to put it behind him and move on. I know plenty of Dems who hate Linda so much they would vote for Dick in a heartbeat just to keep her away from the Senate...

[Jennicut]

20. Either that or we get ...Merrick Alpert as our candidate.

I can't name anyone else, can you?

[CTyankee]

43. I don't know too much about him...what can you tell me?

[KingFlorez]

17. Nothing but a hit piece

Why was this never discussed before? It is so interesting that no one seemed to care about what he was saying until now.

[Mass]

19. I think the most damming is that the Times could only find one quote.

and this despite all their efforts. These people have means, and you would think they have researched this piece. So, I agree, while the quote itself is embarrassing, the whole story and the timing of it (just before a Democratic Convention that could avoid a primary for the Democrats, is weird.

Ultimately, CT voters will decide, but I hope they dont fall for media hysteria and think clearly what the choices are.

[Kdillard]

22. It was just a desperate move by Linda McMahon's campaign to

Embarass the front runner with as you said a pretty pathetic smear campaign using the NY times. I am disappointed that the Times would let themselves be used in this fashion.

[MidwestRick]

23. I've discussed this in other threads...

...in regards to the vet status. My big question is, why did the Times wait until the day of the primary to print this piece? You can't tell me they just got this information yesterday afternoon.

-MR

[bigwillq]

24. The Primary isn't until August

Convention is Friday.

[doc03]

25. He either served in Vietnam or not. If he didn't and claims he

did it is a lie and I wouldn't vote for him. Look at the fuss made on DU when Hillary exaggerated a little and said she landed in Afghanistan under sniper fire, now people want to overlook a bald faced lie.

[Jennicut]

27. But you don't live in CT, I do. I don't want McMahon as my Senator.

Is this enough to bring Blumenthal down? Maybe. Has McMahon done things in her past just as bad? Yeah, I would say so. She fed the NYT the story, she is desperate to buy and win that seat.

[doc03]

33. Did she claim to serve in Vietnam? Has McMahon done things

in her past just as bad? I don't know but I wouldn't just assume she has. We have enough lying politicians in Washington already on both sides.

[Jennicut]

34. McMahon??? She ran WWE which looked the other way when wrestlers took

steroids. There is a long history of that. And lies about it. And pressure to do it behind the scenes. Look what they did to all their workers. Then decide if that is what we want for the state.

Blumenthal has never had a rep of lying in CT. I know, he has been AG since I was in high school. McMahon fed this story to the NYT because she was losing the campaign. She had thrown millions into just the primary so far. Blumenthal made a mistake. But McMahon would be way worse, loves off shore drilling, cutting taxes for the very wealthy, etc. Policies matter most, never forget that.

[doc03]

36. Oh my God she is the wife of that sleazy piece of crap

Vince. I looked it up on Wikipedia, I see your point.

[Jennicut]

37. They have been sleazy for years. She has thrown all the WWE money behind

this campaign. She is hardly pristine.

[polichick]

28. He lied, plain and simple - nobody made him do that. nt

[Beetwasher]

29. “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,”

Here's what I think he probably meant to say:

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in the marine corp during Vietnam,”

So, I think he misspoke.

However, I do think he might have been trying to muddy the waters a bit and connect himself and his militar service and Vietnam and perhaps muddy the waters a bit so so some people might think he DID serve IN Vietnam. I don't know if there was an intentional strategy such as this involved.

But this would explain why it happened only once.

Oh, and yes, this is most definitely a a hit piece.

[greencharlie]

30. well if he didn't LIE...

it wouldn't have happened... just another POS politician. Even if he does have the correct letter after his name, he's still a POS. There are other good Dem candidates in the Primary who can win too...

[Jennicut]

35. Who, Merrick Alpert? That is it. he has never held office and worked on Gore and

Clinton campaigns. There is no one else.

[AtomicKitten]

31. The timing is atrocious but politics can be messy sometimes. nt

[lynne]

38. One youtube is worth 1,000 words -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3KgsgRfjhQ&feature=related

WHEN are candidates going to learn that everything they say and do is recorded??

[ProSense]

39. Everything is recorded, but this isn't likely to be

as career ending as Spitzer's actions.

It was one comment the timing will likely determine the outcome. Voters could see it as a desperate attempt by Republicans.

[lynne]

40. Combined with his 5 deferments -

I feel sure that voters will see it for what it is - a politician exaggerating his record for gain and it blowing up in his face.

[pinboy3niner]

46. Deferments are only relevant when hypocrisy is involved

As when a chickenhawk advocates for sending OTHER mothers' sons to suffer and sacrifice while he exploits deferments or uses privilege and connections to jump a waiting list and get into the reserves/NG so as to guarantee that he will stay safely and comfortably at home, advancing in his education or career while others fight his war.

Blumenthal was not a war advocate, so his avoiding going to fight a war he didn't support is entirely consistent. And he enlisted in the MARINE Reserves--the one place no one needed to pull strings to get into (LOL).

Now, Dick Cheney's deferments, and George W. Bush's use of connections to get into the NG, are a different matter altogether.

[philly_bob]

41. Shameful front-page hit by Times. Hope it helps him. (nt)

[Metric System]

42. This smells:

http://www.pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_41391.shtml

[lakercub]

44. I'm just seeing this

so I will wait and see what happens. Since I'm in Colorado, it isn't like my opinion means anything but this is an interesting story to see where we stand as far as demanding more of our candidates.

We have claims of a hit piece and other claims of a lie. Either way, I do see incredible stupidity. My first instinct is that he lied, and told a stupid lie as well. Even if McMahon sourced the story, who cares? If he lied, he lied (although her family history of lying is voluminous). Lying about military service in our particular political climate is about as moronic as one can get, and it casts doubt on his judgment. If he is willing to tell a lie that is that easy to find and that politically damaging, what other acts of stupidity is he willing to commit?

Further, if newspapers were touting him as a Vietnam vet, he surely knew about it. Those misstatements may be the fault of the newspapers, but he absolutely should have corrected the record before this. Even if the newspaper accounts aren't technically his fault I want higher standards of honesty for a change.

Last word, had he been a republican, this entire sight would be screaming for him to drop out and would be hurling every insult in the book at him. That includes me. We need our candidates to be better than this.

[lakercub]

45. I would like to point out

that if the Times wants to research lies by candidates, it could spend days with the McMahon family. Linda's husband is one of THE sleaziest people on Earth today. She was CEO during much of the then WWFs steroid scandal and was still CEO when wrestlers were dying left and right around the age of 40. Blumenthal appears to have been an idiot, but if this campaign turns into one about ethics, then this should be an open and shut election.

Blumenthal will have to pull a John Edwards with a Chris Benoit twist to even approach the McMahon family filth.