Former Connecticut Congressman Chris Shays said tonight that he became convinced that Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was a “combat veteran” of the Vietnam war after listening to numerous speeches that Blumenthal and he gave to veteran organizations over the years.
In a telephone interview with me, Shays said Blumenthal never outright said he was in Vietnam but by frequently using the “we” word in discussing combat and service in Vietnam it was clear to him what Blumenthal was intimating.
“He was giving the impression that he was in the fight,” said Shays, who clearly was uncomfortable discussing this issue.
Former Congressman Chris Shays
Shays, who describes himself as a good friend of Blumenthal’s, said its a mistake for the Attorney General, who is running for the U.S. Senate for Chris Dodd’s seat, to now claim he simply misspoke. Shays represented the liberal 4th District in Southern Connecticut from 1987 to 2009.
Shays apparently only recently discovered last week that Blumenthal was never in Vietnam when the New York Times contacted him about its story disclosing Blumenthal’s false claims.
He said that over the years, Blumenthal’s Vietnam references became stronger until it reached the point where the Democratic politician was intimating he served in combat.
Shays said he had earlier assumed that Blumenthal was a military legal “desk officer” in Vietnam.
Shays said he was so concerned about the combat connection that he seriously thought about telling Blumenthal to stop making those references, but said he never did.
Blumenthal, Shays said, is “a good decent guy who I have a lot of respect for.”
But he said, it was a mistake for Blumenthal to allow people to think he was in Vietnam and it is now a mistake for Blumenthal to pretend that it was simply wrong word choices.
“It was wrong,” Shays said. “He blew it.”
Shays said he doesn’t think that Blumenthal intended to lie, but probably got carried away in his speeches.
“You almost try to identify with groups you are speaking with,” Shays.
Shays made similar comments to the New York Times but they received little notice.
Infact the AP in its Sunday story incorrectly said Blumenthal had told Shays he was not in Vietnam:
“Blumenthal had made it clear to him and others that he did not serve in Vietnam, but he said in the past decade he began to talk in a way that left the impression he served in Vietnam,” AP Reporter John Christoffersen wrote.
The following is the full AP story:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By John Christoffersen
Sunday, May 23, 2010; 2:13 PM
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal acknowledged he misstated his service in Vietnam, said he made mistakes, regretted them and took responsibility. What he didn’t explain was why.
Blumenthal, Connecticut’s popular attorney general who insisted he was proud of his domestic military service in the Marine Reserve, became part of a long running phenomenon in which men embellish or outright lie about their military record.
“They all do it for the prestige,” said retired FBI agent Thomas Cottone, who used to investigate military impostors for the agency. “They all want to be recognized. They need that ego boost.”
Blumenthal’s political crisis erupted when The New York Times reported last week that the Democrat had repeatedly distorted his military service, including saying at a 2008 event that he had served in Vietnam. The newspaper said Blumenthal intimated more than once that he was a victim of the abuse heaped on Vietnam veterans upon their return home.
Blumenthal said he meant to say he served “during” Vietnam instead of “in” Vietnam. He said the statements were “totally unintentional” errors that occurred only a few times out of hundreds of public appearances.
A longer version of the video of the 2008 event posted by a Republican opponent shows Blumenthal at the beginning of his speech correctly characterizing his service by saying that he “served in the military, during the Vietnam era.”
Blumenthal spent his entire six years of military service in the United States. By mentioning Vietnam, however, he may have been trying to identify with his audience, said Kyle Longley, a history professor at Arizona State University and author of a book on Vietnam veterans.
“A lot of this I think these guys are trying to fit themselves into ‘I was part of this generation,'” Longley said. “It seems like he tried to identify with the generation of the warrior.”
Former Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Shays said Blumenthal had made it clear to him and others that he did not serve in Vietnam, but he said in the past decade he began to talk in a way that left the impression he served in Vietnam.
Shays said he was not sure why Blumenthal’s remarks evolved, but noted that Blumenthal was a strong supporter of veterans.
“When you’re with the veterans, you want to link up with them,” Shays said. “You want them to know you felt their pain.”
Doug Sterner, a military historian, says inflated service records have been a problem since the founding of the country, when George Washington expressed concerns about anyone receiving military honors they did not deserve.
The problem is so common that the POW Network, a watchdog group, lists thousands of names of those it says have made service claims not matched with military records.
Cottone, who retired in 2007, said his caseload of military impostors roughly doubled after the Sept. 11 attacks as reverence for military service intensified.
“Some of it is guilt,” he said. “They regretted they didn’t serve in Vietnam. They just felt they missed that opportunity to be a warrior.”
Christian Appy, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts who has written extensively on the Vietnam War, said many men remain convinced the Vietnam war was unjust and have no regrets about avoiding service.
“But certainly some portion of the Vietnam generation feels they missed out on some primal vital male testing experience,” Appy said. “They feel like they missed out on an adventurous exciting heroic moment that would test them.”
In Blumenthal’s case, Appy said it may simply be he wanted sympathy votes not only for serving in Vietnam but for what he said was the rejection of Vietnam veterans when they returned home.
On the one hand, Shays didn’t know til last week Blumenthal was not in Vietnam,
On the other hand,Shays says he thought about telling Blumenthal his references were becoming misleading, giving the impression he was actually in Vietnam?
Did Shays actually say he himself was misled?
No wonder our country is in the shape it is in, when our congressmen don’t know whats going on. I went to a couple of his speaking engagements and knew Richards whole story .
The imposters didn’t regret it so much as to voluteer for Nam. They would have taken them in a heartbeat. He’s like Kerry, Kerry went doing his JFK imopression and found out they were using real bullets. The differnet between Kerry, Bloomie and the other folks that regret not having gone is JFK stayed the others ran.