Blumenthal Comments Stir New Questions on Military Service

NY Times ^ | 6/17/2010

[Uncledave]

Can't figure out why the NY Times has it out for this guy.

[cvq3842]

Maybe if it were later in the year the Times would bury the story.

[End Times Sentinel]

...an effort to move beyond an issue that has bedeviled his Senate campaign: his claims about his military service during the Vietnam War.

Bedeviled? Really? Last I heard, he was still up by double digits.

The fact that nearly every D will overlook this disgraceful character flaw, and feel comfortable with him representing their interests should tell anyone all they need to know about the democrat party.

[MissesBush]

Well Blumenthal should add another 10 points to his lead after this latest round of lies. Connecticut is one deranged state. The only place I know where you can maintain a 20 point lead in a Senate race after being caught in bizarre lies.

[cvq3842]

PS All I know is, when I was a child growing up in VietNam, the war was very confusing to me and I didn’t understand what was going on.

Excuse me, I meant when I was a child DURING Vietnam. I “misspoke.” :)

[cvq3842]

I agree thaty if this were a Republican he would have been hounded out of the race the moment this story became known - by his own party. The Democrats don’t seem to mind, though.

[Brugmansian]

Blumenthal, a Democrat, said he joined the Marine Corps Reserve in April 1970 knowing that reservists could be activated for service in Vietnam

Typical lawyer. Yes, there was a chance reservists could be sent to Nam. But zero chance anyone in the slot he was able to secure for himself in Washington D.C. would be. On the other hand, anyone who joined the Air National Guard in Texas and learned to fly jets...well that person did have an expectation Nam might be in their future.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

That’s a good question. This guy is a lying weasel, but the Dems. have a bunch of them and usually the NY Times only takes on Republicans who they discover stretching the truth. There has to be something here that the Times isn’t talking about.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

More nonsense from the party of corruption.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

" Yes, there was a chance reservists could be sent to Nam."

I don't know about that. The 4th Marine Division (the reserve division) had never had any units activated up to that point and major units had been in Vietnam for five years. I don't see how he would think that when we were pulling units out of Vietnam starting in the summer of 1969 that they would all of the sudden activate the reserve division to go over. I call bunk on this BS. He got a mid level draft number in 1969, was worried and enlisted in the Marine Reserve to escape all possibility of going to Vietnam. That's bad enough, but to then wrap yourself in the flag and those veterans that did go, well that's despicable...

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"There has to be something here that the Times isn’t talking about."

Yeah, he's up by a big margin in Conneticut so this story won't hurt him. However, when people complain they aren't objective, they can point to how they doggedly followed this story while they are tearing another Republican apart.

[maine yankee]

Mr. Blumenthal, 64, has also in recent weeks sought to defend his record of service in the military.

I really, really wanted to fight. I did. I did.

But when you can type 50 words a minute, you go where you’re needed.

[Mr. K]

You are 100% correct that in THE PAST the media would have hounded any Republican out of office for saying lies like that.

Now, things are different. There is Fox News and the Internet and Breitbart and Free Republic.

WE NEED TO DO THE HOUNDING!!!! DONT LET THIS GO

[ops33]

“I find it hard to believe that anyone would forget their lottery number.”

My draft lottery number for 1971 was 11.

[Will88]

At one point in the interview, Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat, said he joined the Marine Corps Reserve in April 1970 knowing that reservists could be activated for service in Vietnam.

Either a shameless liar or an ignoramus. From mid-1965 until most US troops were out of Vietnam in 1973, it was well known that reserve units were not being sent to Vietnam and they all had long waiting lists for most years of the Vietnam era. LBJ made the political decision to not call up reserves because he thought that would increase opposition to the war.

There are probably a few exceptions, but most everyone who joined a reserve unit after late 1965 did so to avoid the draft or the longer four year active duty requirement of the Navy and AF. The same people were not seeking enlistment in the regular Army or Marine Corps, which meant a high probability of going to Vietnam (slots available there).

Dan Quayle, George W. Bush and I, and a few million others joined reserve units during that era to avoid the draft, and the four year active duty requirement of the Navy and AF.

This Blumenthal character has some sort of psychosis going on here. He just can't stop exaggerating and lying about his Marine Corps Reserve service.

[cvq3842]

Yes, I can’t imagine this person being re-elected. Maybe I need to know more about this person’s whole career. Or maybe I don’t.

[neverdem]

bump & a ping

[raybbr]

At one point in the interview, Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat, said he joined the Marine Corps Reserve in April 1970 knowing that reservists could be activated for service in Vietnam. “I did not want to avoid service,” he said.

Then why did you ask for at least four deferments prior to enlisting in the reserves?

[raybbr]

Thanks for the ping.

[Chode]

if the fool really wanted to goto Nam, why didn't he join THE Marines instead of the reserves???