PoliticsUSA: Connecticut: Senate candidate Blumenthal lies about being Vietnam veteran

The candidate has rendered himself incompetent to be a Senator on a character issue brawt on by his repeated lie (tho not repeated on his official webs+t), the brazen lie that he was in the US military in Vietnam. Actually, he sawt draft deferment several times (full disclosure: I had "immunity" as a Divinity student, my Draft Board was located in Ansonia, Connecticut). In the end, the liar Blumenthal joined the Marine Reserve, calculating that his status there woud protect him from being shipped out to Nam. That proved true, the Marine Reserve cave him a cover for not going to Nam.

Yet he played the Veterans of Foreign Wars circuit with his song and dance, implying he had served his country abroad. He didn't. But he played the political game well, aspiring to climb the ladder to the Senate. As the disgraced Senator Christopher Dodd felt he coud not win another term in the Senate, he dropped out of the race; and that's when Blumenthal saw his opportunity. He wanted Dodd's seat. But every now and then, apparently, on the campaign trail, he coudn't resist that temptation to puff his resume. Membership in the Senate coud have been gained by simply avoiding Nam talk. But the Senate wannabee fell victim to his own hubris. May his political career rest in peace.

-- Politicarp

Clickup the title article at New York Times, "The Candidate and the War" (May22,2k10) by Clark Hoyt.

May the people of Connecticut elect someone else to that vital membership in the US Senate, someone of h+er character, whether have served in Vietnam or not.