"When I served in Vietnam...."
A Democratic candidate's self-inflicted war wound
"When I served in Vietnam...."
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
I had planned to preview some of the marquee elections on tap for today; aside from the Specter-Sestak Senate smackdown, we have the special House election to fill deceased powerhouse John Murtha's seat in western Pennsylvania, as well as the Kentucky Senate Republican primary (starring tea party favorite Rand Paul) and the Arkansas Senate Democratic primary (where incumbent Blanche Lincoln is being challenged from the left). But I decided otherwise, for two reasons:
1. The key questions about those races likely will be answered within 12 hours anyway, once the actual votes are tallied.
2. The political story that just broke in Connecticut has to take precedence. It's impossible to ignore such a self-inflicted wound.
If the Democrats hope to retain control of the U.S. Senate, they obviously need to keep the seats they currently hold in blue states such as Connecticut. And they have generally assumed that Connecticut is safe; the baggage-laden Chris Dodd was yielding the Democratic nomination to state attorney general (and former U.S. attorney) Dick Blumenthal, a well-regarded guy who literally has been awaiting His Turn for decades. Blumenthal would keep the seat in the Democratic column. Finally, his moment had arrived...
But what do we have here today: A New York Times investigative report that threatens to torch his candidacy.
It turns out that Blumenthal has repeatedly stated in public that he served in Vietnam - whereas, in reality, he never did. Quite the contrary, he received at least five military deferments and took various steps to avoid being sent.
He told a veterans group two years ago that "we have learned something important since the days when I served in Vietnam." He has reminisced at public events about how he and other Vietnam veterans returned home, only to be spat upon. Indeed, over the years, Connecticut newspapers have repeatedly described him as a Vietnam vet - yet there's no evidence he ever tried to correct the error. And it was a doozy of an error, considering his five deferments - and the fact that his 1970 stint in a stateside Marine Reserve unit was quite benign; as The Times wryly noted, his unit did stuff like "fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive."
Hello, character issue.
This morning, Blumenthal's PR people are predictably denouncing The Times story as "an outrageous distortion" - which is absolutely priceless spin, given the fact that The Times gained access to Blumenthal's Selective Service records via a Freedom of Information request; and that Connecticut newspapers have frequently reported on his Vietnam reminiscences (The Shelton Weekly, 2008: Blumenthal "was met with applause when he spoke about his experiences as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam"). Nevertheless, the Blumenthal team essentially seems to be saying: Yeah, but what about all the times when he didn't say he served in Vietnam?
Vietnam has long been a touchy topic for baby-boomer candidates; it's the old "what did you do in the '60s" question. Bill Clinton's '92 presidential bid was nearly torpedoed by his maddeningly elusive remarks about the various measures he took to avoid the draft - but at least he never claimed to have served in Vietnam when the truth was the opposite. Connecticut voters may well view Blumenthal's behavior as evidence of a serious veracity deficit. He'll need to engage in major damage control if he hopes to soldier on; he'll undoubtedly stand at a podium today surrounded by as many supportive military vets as his spinmeisters can muster. That's the usual drill...And sure enough, there we go: a midafternoon press conference, with Blumenthal surrounded by vets, and the candidate doing what Dick Nixon used to call the modified limited hangout route - a defiant sorta confession, in which Blumenthal admits to having spoken "a few misplaced words."
This story is a potential gift for the normally bereft Connecticut Republicans. One GOP contender for the Senate seat is ex-congressman Rob Simmons - an actual Vietnam veteran. The other, wrestling mogul Linda McMahon, has already posted a video of Blumenthal talking publicly about his so-called service in Vietnam. Yes, there is video. And as we've already seen this spring in Pennsylvania, a candidate is most imperiled when he imperils himself with his own words.
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Speaking of Pennsylvania...In the Senate Democratic primary, the consensus is that Arlen Specter imperiled himself when he was caught on video saying, "My change in party will enable me to be re-elected." Challenger Joe Sestak is still featuring that soundbite in a TV ad, and most observers agree that the ad itself is potentially devastating.
On CNN yesterday, however, host Rich Sanchez insisted that the ad was unfair to Specter because Sestak's media team had cut the rest of the Specter quote. The entire quote, aired by Sanchez, goes like this: "My change in party will enable me to be re-elected - and I have heard that again and again and again on the street. 'Senator, we're glad you'll be able to stay in the Senate, to help the state and the nation.'"
Sanchez concluded: "It's effective, the ad. But it's not true."
I disagree. The ad is essentially true. As I have mentioned previously, Specter in the other venues had made it quite clear that he was leaving the GOP because his electoral prospects were blocked, and that he was joining the Democrats because they offered a path to re-election. As for the full quote cited above, that's just the standard political rap. Candidates always claim to have found people "on the street" who miraculously say exactly what the candidates want to say about themselves.
Meanwhile, I'm due to talk about the race results tonight on Philadelphia National Public Radio, from 9 to 10.
JimR... you sure you grew up in Philly. It was Jim Tate who gave city employees very generous raises. I know, I was there. Rizzo was actually disliked by every city employee, he was pretty tight with money.— Phil Checchia- "Blumenthal is yet another example of how people in the limelight start to believe their own myth." I can't agree that this is restricted to people in the limelight, Liberal. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the same thing from everyday people who just can't resist the temptation to pretend that they were something they were not. I probably can't count the number of people I have heard telling all manner of war stories until somebody who actually was in the military entered the discussion and started asking pointed questions. All of a sudden the recollection of many of these clowns gets very vague.— Fascinated
- "Europe is better off in every single way than it ever has been." Absolutely. All one has to do to realize this is look at Greece and Portugal and Spain and one quickly realizes that you can tax the rich into poverty and borrow billions forever and it will all work out well in the end.— Fascinated
- The Blumenthal story reminds of Hillary proclaiming she landed in Bosnia while taking sniper fire. Am I seeing a trend here among the Democrats? I think they are so used to the media covering or their lies that they believe they can get away with any story, distortion, exaggeration, or untruth.
- Phil, About now, you're really sounding foolish. "And Jim R you may have worked on an outreach and helped a black kid or two, but that doesn't nearly compensate for the damage your political party does. I've worked with more than two kids and I'm not a Democrat. Tate was a pro labor but Rizo was the guy who gave away the farm. 12+% raise for the unions when he was running for re-election, Fedaral gov't job program drew 12000 applicants who waited in the rain for jobs that had been doled out by the committe people, hiring all the sycophants. And I'm the one re-writing history?? Yea, I was there, too. And so far, you're judgements of me are 0 for 9.— JimR
- "You were in 'Nam? So were we. Where? I was in...Sang Bang... Dang Gong... I was all over the place, a lot of places. What unit? I was with the Green Berets, Special Unit Battalions... Commando Airborne Tactics... Specialist Tactics Unit Battalion. Yeah, it was real hush hush. I was Agent Orange, Special Agent Orange, that was me." Anyone recoginize what movie this dialogue is from?
- I still think Checcia's a racist. The only racism this guy can see is reverse racism. I'm not saying this to be argumentative, but I think it's amusing that people will bother to argue with him about race, corruption in Philly, etc. at this point. It's like getting into an argument with Archie Bunker. This guy's mind is closed.— p-diddy
- Interesting piece about illegal immigration today in the New York Times, called "A Generation Gap Over Immigration". Whether you're a D or an R, it basically says that immigration overhaul will be difficult to achieve, because there is an intense divide among baby-boomers and younger Americans over this issue.— p-diddy
- Pdiddy... You use the word racist when you have no response. That is cowardly. Show me one statement where i said something that was untrue about the plight of black people. I would be a racist if I voted the way you do. In short, you are a coward.— Phil Checchia
- swedesboromike : immediately. Great reference:) ... "It's a Persian rug. From Persia!"— still_independent
- Look, there's no sense in believing that only one party acts unethically. Today, a Republican in Indiana (can't remember his name) is resigning from Congress because he had an affair (bore, bore) and was one of the "Family Values" candidates. What is wrong with these people? I'm so tired of this hypocrisy on both sides. And not to put too fine a point on it, but most of this stuff (maybe 99 percent) is perpetrated by men. What's up with you guys (not all of you, but give me a clue about your gender)? Seriously, I'll never understand men.— NigeltheMastiff
- Look, there's no sense in believing that only one party acts unethically. Today, a Republican in Indiana (can't remember his name) is resigning from Congress because he had an affair (bore, bore) and was one of the "Family Values" candidates. What is wrong with these people? I'm so tired of this hypocrisy on both sides. And not to put too fine a point on it, but most of this stuff (maybe 99 percent) is perpetrated by men. What's up with you guys (not all of you, but give me a clue about your gender)? Seriously, I'll never understand men.— NigeltheMastiff
- Phil Checchia: I could start with the occasional "jungle" comment you've made. Beyond that, I don't know, the fact that you think all blacks share a common plight? Both of my next door neighbors happen to be black. So what? Both also grew up in a poor, inner city environment. Both are democrats, and both favored Clinton over Obama in the primary (yes, the Clinton that you have eyewitness Camp David reports of). When I pull into my driveway in my Honda CH should I ask the one with the BMW or the one with the Bentley about the "plight of black people"?— still_independent
- Phil Checcia: It's not just your pattern of portraying blacks as unthinking tools of Democrats. It's your tone. You DON'T LIKE this city. Maybe the job just wore you down, I know some teachers that have succumbed to the same kind of grumpiness you show here. There's nothing you've posted that makes the thinks you actually care about blacks - you want these lazy welfare queens (insert any derogatory term for those who want/use social services) to get off your back. Talk about cowardly. You don't want to even engage; take your repeated statements about Obama being a socialist, for example.— p-diddy
- NigeltheMastiff: I think Chris Rock, when speaking about Bill Clinton, put it best - "A man is only as faithful as his opportunities".... In all seriousness, some percentage of men cheat. Since the majority of politicians are men, it stands to reason that the majority of cheating politicians would be men. I've also wondered if whatever "IT" is that gets them elected also gets them women.... And what of the women? You can't claim "I didn't know he was married" when he's a public figure.— still_independent
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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