The double standard

| May 18, 2010

TSO and I were having an email conversation about this so I thought I’d share

Let’s pretend for a minute that Richard Blumenthal didn’t lie to Connecticut about his military service in Vietnam. He got five deferments from the draft while he was in college – not that there’s anything wrong with that. I’ve always said on this blog that deferments were common in the era of the draft – five deferments is about right for someone to attend college. And in an era when all military service was disparaged, Blumenthal joined

But let’s look at how the Democrats have traditionally addressed deferments and service in the Reserves, shall we?. Dick Cheney had five deferments and we heard about for eight years. Blumenthal’s deferments were 1965 to 1970 – while we had combat troops in Vietnam. Cheney’s deferments were all before 1965, while there were no ground combat forces in Vietnam.

Dan Quayle got hammered during the GHW Bush years because his Vietnam Era time was spent in the Reserves like Blumenthal. GW Bush was a pilot in the Texas National Guard and we heard about it for eight years.

More recently, I wrote about Gordon Duff’s attack on SC Congressman Joe Wilson who had five deferments and served in the Guard and Reserves.

Now the Washington Post is reporting that the national Democrats are lining up behind Blumenthal;

Yet national Dems think he’ll survive this, because he has also repeatedly been accurate in representing his record. They hope this will persuade people to see his previous quotes as screw ups, rather than deliberate attempts to mislead. Indeed, don’t be surprised if more examples of him accurately discussing his record surface before long

Like I said, I don’t care about deferments or Reserve service, but looking at recent history, Democrats do….so why are they standing behind this guy?

Category: Liberals suck, Phony soldiers

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Old Tanker

They hope this will persuade people to see his previous quotes as screw ups, rather than deliberate attempts to mislead.

A screw up is an accident that is your fault…..how the hell do you accidentally say you were in Vietnam when you never left the states??? Others have mentioned that this isn’t a case of stolen valor….you don’t think he did this to enhance his standing as a political candidate? Oh ya, it’s transference, he wished he was there with his peers so bad he had false memories….kinda like Matthis getting PTSD because he talked to some soldiers once…

AW1 Tim

What Old Tanker says.

Cortillaen

OT, methinks the preceding sentence is the worst: “Yet national Dems think he’ll survive this, because he has also repeatedly been accurate in representing his record.
He flat out lied about going to Vietnam, and the Dems say he was “accurate in representing his record” followed by hoping the lie will be inaccurately perceived as a “screw-up”. Words fail…

Re Pre-1965 no ground troops

I helped open Bien Hoa Air Base, Vietnam in 1961-2 as an Air Policeman. My missions was to help defend the base from ground attack using my fellow Air Policemen. Admittedly, our presence was supposedly secret. Later the organization was identified as the First Air Commandoes.

FWIW, my second tour (this time as a Security Policeman) was to Udorn Air Force Base, Thailand in 1967, a much different assignment.

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[…] Lilyea at the This ain’t Hell blog has a good point on comparing Democratic Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal’s Vietnam deferments to those of Republ…: But let’s look at how the Democrats have traditionally addressed deferments and service in the […]