Remember the entire clamor about George W. Bush’s military service? He didn’t go to Vietnam; he used influence to stay out of Vietnam. He lied about this, he lied about that. Dan Rather lost his job at CBS and others involved in the George W. Bush campaign smear left CBS in disgrace. Fact is, George W. Bush volunteered for duty in Vietnam but they didn’t fly the fighter jets he was trained on over there so his request was denied.

John Kerry lied, lied and lied some more about his service, begged for medals and even committed treason while on active duty reserve visiting with a delegation from Hanoi, North Vietnam and participating with the anti-war group Winter Soldiers.

Now we have one more Democrat trumping up is military service and doing it in front of active duty service men and women and retirees of the United States Armed Forces.

From the NY Times: (Hat Tip – Drudge Report)

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

OOPS! There is one glaring problem:

Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.

In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.

OH, please forgive me for I have misspoken:

In an interview on Monday, the attorney general said that he had misspoken about his service during the Norwalk event and might have misspoken on other occasions.

“My intention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward, out of respect to the veterans who served in Vietnam,” he said.

These lying politicians always get away with a dodge, apology or telling us they were misunderstood – only after they get caught in their huge lie. However, there is a consistent pattern over the years about Blumenthal’s service and lack of it.

In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military families gathered to express support for American troops overseas referring to how returning Vietnam veterans were treated.

“When we returned, we saw nothing like this,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Let us do better by this generation of men and women.”

At a 2008 ceremony in front of the Veterans War Memorial Building in Shelton, he praised the audience for paying tribute to troops fighting abroad, noting that America had not always done so.

“I served during the Vietnam era,” he said. “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.”

In at least eight newspaper articles published in Connecticut from 2003 to 2009, Blumenthal is described as having served in Vietnam.

The New Haven Register on July 20, 2006, described him as “a veteran of the Vietnam War,” and on April 6, 2007, said that the attorney general had “served in the Marines in Vietnam.”

On May 26, 2009, The Connecticut Post, a Bridgeport newspaper that is the state’s third-largest daily, described Mr. Blumenthal as “a Vietnam veteran.”

The Shelton Weekly reported on May 23, 2008, that Mr. Blumenthal “was met with applause when he spoke about his experience as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam.”

Slate magazine, produced a profile of Mr. Blumenthal in 2000, it said he had “enlisted in the Marines rather than duck the Vietnam draft.”

Five deferments and he wasn’t seeking to avoid the draft? I’m surprised he didn’t catch pneumonia from the draft! There is no record that Blumenthal ever sought to correct the record of these stories.

“I don’t know if we tried to do so or not,” he said. He added that he “can’t possibly know what is reported in all” the articles that are written about him, given the large number of appearances he makes at military-style events.

Politicians have people checking stories about that as full-time jobs. Like so many in the political class, Mr. Blumenthal is a pathological liar.

Now that he is caught, like a rat, Mr. Blumenthal is “correcting” himself at speaking engagement. In a Senate debate in March he responded to a question about Iran and the use of military force by saying:

“Although I did not serve in Vietnam, I have seen firsthand the effects of military action, and no one wants it to be the first resort, nor do we want to mortgage the country’s future with a deficit that is ballooning out of control.”

The NY Times also discusses another lie about swimming at Harvard. One problem, he was never on the Harvard swim team.

In two largely favorable profiles, the Slate article and a magazine article in The Hartford Courant in 2004 with which he cooperated; Mr. Blumenthal is described prominently as having served as captain of the swim team at Harvard. Records at the college show that he was never on the team.

While Blumenthal is busy with his Olympic-sized backpedaling here is another whopper:

In an interview, Jean Risley, the chairwoman of the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial Inc., recalled listening to an emotional Mr. Blumenthal offering remarks at the dedication of the memorial. She remembered him describing the indignities that he and other veterans faced when they returned from Vietnam.

“It was a sad moment,” she recalled. “He said, ‘When we came back, we were spat on; we couldn’t wear our uniforms.’ It looked like he was sad to me when he said it.”

Ms. Risley later telephoned the reporter to say she had checked into Mr. Blumenthal’s military background and learned that he had not, in fact, served in Vietnam. Imagine that! Blumenthal can now join John Kerry in the Vietnam Hall of Shame for Famous Liars.

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