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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (79883)	5/21/2010 6:43:33 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

Left defends as Blumenthal’s lies pile up By: David Freddoso Online Opinion Editor 05/20/10 12:08 PM EDT On the Left, there is a coordinated attempt now to blame The New York Times for Richard Blumenthal’s lies about serving in Vietnam. The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Media Matters (but Truth Doesn’t), and the Columbia Journalism Review are trying to put the best possible face on Blumenthal’s campaign of misdirection. Some of them point to this report from the AP or this fact contained within: <<< A longer version of the video posted by a Republican opponent also shows Blumenthal at the beginning of his speech correctly characterizing his service by saying that he ’served in the military, during the Vietnam era.’ >>> Except this is not strictly accurate. Blumenthal did not “correctly characterize” his Vietnam service. Yes, he was vague about it at the beginning, but in the same speech he got to specifics and said “I served in Vietnam.” A true statement about something does not cancel out a lie about the same thing. That’s especially true now, as we discover that Blumenthal told the same lie on other occasions, like this one: <<< “I wore the uniform in Vietnam and many came back to all kinds of disrespect. Whatever we think of war, we owe the men and women of the armed forces our unconditional support.” >>> And this one: <<< “When we returned from Vietnam, I remember the taunts, the verbal and even physical abuse we encountered.” >>> Also, despite an affinity for calling newspapers to correct his middle initial, Blumenthal did nothing to correct the lore accumulating in Lexis-Nexis that was spreading about his supposed Vietnam service — a lore that others (like Chris Shays) noticed over time with dread. Blumenthal’s lawyer-like response to the problem this week — “I may not even have seen” the articles, he said — is an attempt to construct an argument in the alternative. This mode of argument, while perhaps valid in formulating theories for legal cases, is utterly unconvincing in real life. (“I do not own a dog…but if I do, it did not bite you…and if it did, it was not my fault.”) It’s as though he is waiting to see if anyone presents evidence that he did see the articles mentioning his Vietnam service, at which time he will come up with a different argument. “Vietnam-era service,” even outside Vietnam, is honorable. What is dishonorable is for Blumenthal to lie about his service in an effort to market himself more effectively as a politician — which is what he was doing in that video clip and on all of those other occasions. It only makes it worse that as Attorney General, he showed absolutely no mercy toward businesses and individuals who employed milder deceptions. Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com