Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was caught in a big time lie. Running for the Senate seat now occupied by Senator Chris Dodd, who is retiring,has been exposed by The New York Times for his lies - in the form of resume padding. Blumenthal made many references on the campaign trail to his time spent in Vietnam and of mistreatment as a veteran. He used the claims of being spit upon and such as was common mistreatment of real war veterans of that day.
Blumenthal went to the West Hartford VFW to try and stop the bleeding. The small stage was all decked out with American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars members.
Turns out Blumenthal is indeed a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. He did not, however leave the country in service. His time overseas was spent in college. Blumenthal had a number of deferrals, like the previously criticized VP Cheney. You may remember that former President Bush was criticized for being a member of the USAF national guard. Suddenly it is chic to be a Democrat with military service, for political expediency. It would appear, however, that the military service must be real or the public isn't quite so impressed.
As the newspaper account reports, Blumenthal was advised to apologize, mean it and move on. His statement before the press wasn't exactly an apology, though. He said he "regretted" his words. He didn't say he was sorry for doing it. He says it was the use of "a few misplaced words" that he regrets. When finally pressed by the reporters if he was sorry, the veterans on stage told him not to be swayed by them and he repeated his previous wording.
The youtube video of the non-apology:
Then, in regards to the veterans he used as his stage props for the press conference, according to the news account he used another fake war veteran. This guy claimed to be a POW and wore medals he didn't really earn. Nice,huh? According to THIS William Joseph Trumpower is also known as Elliott Storm. He was asked by the Blumenthal campaign to come to support the candidate today and Storm called his pals in his group, "Vet Pack". This group advocates for veterans in need of post traumatic stress syndrome.
Many political insiders now think Blumenthal's long political career is over. We will wait to see how it all plays out. Perhaps Senator John Kerry has some advice.
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