Blumenthal: "I served in Vietnam"/NYT to Blumenthal: You lie!

[Lief 🗽]

Hopefully people will stop pretending the NYT is some liberal rag now, considering they just lost us a safe Senate seat.

[Franzl]

Hopefully people will stop pretending the NYT is some liberal rag now, considering they just lost us a safe Senate seat.

I would prefer to think of them as a neutral objective source of information, as newspapers should actually be. They didn't cost anyone anything.

Blumenthal, if he loses, has nobody to blame but himself.

[Lief 🗽]

Well, yes, but my point is, if the NYT were some incredibly biased liberal paper, like so many on the right seem to argue, they wouldn't have printed an article that dramatically hurts Democrats' chances of holding on to the Senate.

[paul718]

Hopefully people will stop pretending the NYT is some liberal rag now, considering they just lost us a safe Senate seat.

Fox News is reporting that Blumenthal in fact served in the Marine reserves, and is playing footage from a debate where he explicitly states that he did not go to Vietnam.  Can we stop pretending Fox News is some Republican network now?  

[J. J.]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

[Torie]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

A few what?

[J. J.]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

A few what?

He said he misspoke on "a few" occasions.  If that turns out to be 50, he has a bigger problem.

[Brittain33]

Can you say "Career over?"

We'll know if this is the case or not in another 24-48 hours. George W. Bush claimed he'd been to war and served in Vietnam on occasion, accidentally.

[cinyc]

We'll know if this is the case or not in another 24-48 hours. George W. Bush claimed he'd been to war and served in Vietnam on occasion, accidentally.

This seems to be the "progressive" spin of the day.  Please cite ONE instance when George W. Bush claimed he had served in Vietnam.  ONE.

[cinyc]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

I thought the press conference went about as well as could be expected.  Blumenthal still meanders too much instead of just answering questions directly - but he seems to be getting better at that.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

I thought the press conference went about as well as could be expected.  Blumenthal still meanders too much instead of just answering questions directly - but he seems to be getting better at that.

Can anyone beat him regardless?

[Brittain33]

We'll know if this is the case or not in another 24-48 hours. George W. Bush claimed he'd been to war and served in Vietnam on occasion, accidentally.

This seems to be the "progressive" spin of the day.  Please cite ONE instance when George W. Bush claimed he had served in Vietnam.  ONE.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023850.php

You're right, he only said he'd "been to war" and seen combat "firsthand" and "served in the U.S. Air Force", all of which are lies. It was up to the listener to assme it was during his service in the Vietnam Era, and not Grenada or the Crimean War or some such.

[Kevin]

We'll know if this is the case or not in another 24-48 hours. George W. Bush claimed he'd been to war and served in Vietnam on occasion, accidentally.

This seems to be the "progressive" spin of the day.  Please cite ONE instance when George W. Bush claimed he had served in Vietnam.  ONE.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023850.php

You're right, he only said he'd "been to war" and seen combat "firsthand" and "served in the U.S. Air Force", all of which are lies. It was up to the listener to assme it was during his service in the Vietnam Era, and not Grenada or the Crimean War or some such.

He wouldn't have been alive today if he had served in the Crimean War.

If he had though and he was elected to the Senate he would surpass Byrd in longevity in terms of age.:

[cinyc]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

I thought the press conference went about as well as could be expected.  Blumenthal still meanders too much instead of just answering questions directly - but he seems to be getting better at that.

Can anyone beat him regardless?

According to the NBC station in Connecticut whose coverage I watched of the press conference, the McMahon campaign's goal in getting this info out this week may have been to make sure a minor Democrat candidate, Merrick Alpert, gets enough support at this weekend's convention to get on the primary ballot.  

Could anyone beat Blumenthal?  Yes - if he self-destructs with more gaffes like this and continues his terrible campaigning.  No candidate is safe from self-destruction, especially in a throw-the-bums-out cycle like this one.

[J. J.]

I'm watching the press conference and the key might be the definition of "a few."

I thought the press conference went about as well as could be expected.  Blumenthal still meanders too much instead of just answering questions directly - but he seems to be getting better at that.

The conference was as well as could be expected, but that isn't the problem.

If the press looks and finds a large number of cases where Blumenthal "misspoke," that will be a scandal.  Five times, no.  15-25 times, maybe.  50+, he's toast.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

No candidate is safe from self-destruction, especially in a throw-the-bums-out cycle like this one.

Not true!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Godsiff

[Iosif]

So who have the Democrats got waiting in the wings to take over? Dicky won't see the end of the week. He's done.

[cinyc]

So who have the Democrats got waiting in the wings to take over? Dicky won't see the end of the week. He's done.

Merrick Alpert.

And I still think Blumenthal will ride this controversy out.  The press conference was a good start.  The Connecticut media seems willing to give him the benefit of the doubt (perhaps because they should have caught this error before).  And the NYC TV media doesn't seem to care much, even though Fairfield County is in the NYC TV market.

[Torie]

Did Blumenthal explain why he lied five times, or whatever the number is?  Or was it not lying, but just five instances of temporary senile dementia, or is Blumenthal intermittently psychotic and really thought on five different occasions that he did serve in Vietnam? Yes of course, Blumenthal would just say he just "misspoke" (and only five times at that apparently), and leave it at that. But did some reporter or two hound him a bit on this, as to just how he could get so confused if he wasn't affirmatively just lying, and was he just lying?

[cinyc]

Did Blumenthal explain why he lied five times, or whatever the number is?  Or was it not lying, but just five instances of temporary senile dementia, or is Blumenthal intermittently psycotic and really thought on five different occasions that he did serve in Vietnam? Yes of course, Blumenthal would just say he just "misspoke" (and only five times at that apparently), and leave it at that. But did some reporter or two hound him a bit on this, as to just how he could get so confused if he wasn't affirmatively just lying, and was he just lying?

Blumenthal said he misspoke.  He regrets misspeaking and takes responsibility for it.  He served in the Marine Reserves, but not in Vietnam.  He can't be held responsible for errors in articles that he probably didn't even read.   And he supports veterans.   He really really really supports veterans, which is important when there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Did I mention he really, really, really supports veterans?
 
That's pretty much the jist of his press conference.

[Torie]

Did Blumenthal explain why he lied five times, or whatever the number is?  Or was it not lying, but just five instances of temporary senile dementia, or is Blumenthal intermittently psycotic and really thought on five different occasions that he did serve in Vietnam? Yes of course, Blumenthal would just say he just "misspoke" (and only five times at that apparently), and leave it at that. But did some reporter or two hound him a bit on this, as to just how he could get so confused if he wasn't affirmatively just lying, and was he just lying?

Blumenthal said he misspoke.  He regrets misspeaking and takes responsibility for it.  He served in the Marine Reserves, but not in Vietnam.  He can't be held responsible for errors in articles that he probably didn't even read.   And he supports veterans.   He really really really supports veterans, which is important when there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Did I mention he really, really, really supports veterans?
 
That's pretty much the jist of his press conference.

Splendid, but were there any "obnoxious" reporters in the room moved to ask the questions I would have asked, and if so, what was (were)  his answer(s)? 

[Landslide Lyndon]

Did Blumenthal explain why he lied five times, or whatever the number is?  Or was it not lying, but just five instances of temporary senile dementia, or is Blumenthal intermittently psycotic and really thought on five different occasions that he did serve in Vietnam? Yes of course, Blumenthal would just say he just "misspoke" (and only five times at that apparently), and leave it at that. But did some reporter or two hound him a bit on this, as to just how he could get so confused if he wasn't affirmatively just lying, and was he just lying?

Blumenthal said he misspoke.  He regrets misspeaking and takes responsibility for it.  He served in the Marine Reserves, but not in Vietnam.  He can't be held responsible for errors in articles that he probably didn't even read.   And he supports veterans.   He really really really supports veterans, which is important when there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Did I mention he really, really, really supports veterans?
 
That's pretty much the jist of his press conference.

Splendid, but were there any "obnoxious" reporters in the room moved to ask the questions I would have asked, and if so, what was (were)  his answer(s)? 

I think they asked him a bunch of questions but he stayed "on message", as the Washington media would say.

[Torie]

In other words, he stonewalled I take it. Hey, that's splendid too! 

[Oakvale]

I think we - myself included - might have overreacted a tad to this. It's maybe not as big a scandal as we might think.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/may/18/richard-blumenthal-vietnam-connecticut-senate?CMP=twt_gu

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All opinion, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if he weathered this okay.

*waits to be immediately proven wrong by a Blumenthal withdrawal*


PS: I'm not saying it was okay for him to lie, or that he only misspoke, or making any real judgements about the ethics of the whole mess, BTW. Focusing on the political impact.

[cinyc]

Splendid, but were there any "obnoxious" reporters in the room moved to ask the questions I would have asked, and if so, what was (were)  his answer(s)?  

Obnoxious reporters?  Not really - though it was a bit difficult to hear the questions on the NBC Connecticut feed.  Someone did ask if it was a lie.  He said it wasn't intentional, IIRC.  Video of the whole press conference is available from the Hartford CBS station here.

In what's good news for getting the Blumenthal story off the news, Connecticut Dems were thrown for another loop today when their Supreme Court ruled that the leading candidate for Blumenthal's AG seat, the current Secretary of State, isn't eligible because she wasn't engaged in the active practice of law for at least 10 years.