Blumenthal, Media Failed The Public In Their Spins On The AG’s Vietnam Service

We all had an opportunity to watch how both Ct Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the media handled an explosive political hot potato as the New York Times revealed Monday that on numerous occasions the enforcer of Connecticut laws lied when he either indicated or flat out said he served in Vietnam.

The New York Times had him cold with a video – that Blumenthal was unaware was being shot – at a gathering two years ago where he told the crowd he had been in Vietnam> The Times also had newspaper clips where he said the same on other occasions, and a fellow politician saying he heard Blumenthal tell the same tale so often he too was convinced that Blumenthal had worn his Marine uniform in Saigon.

All that evidence did not deter Blumenthal from a Tuesday press conference where he insisted that he never meant to mislead anyone, he had simply used incorrect language, and intimated he should be honored for having signed up for the Marine reserve.

Never mind that Blumenthal, a brilliant lawyer, sought and received five deferments so he could study and then later work in the White House and at the Washington Post. And that he only joined the reserves when his deferments ran out, he got a low draft number assuring him of a speedy trip to the jungles, and it was common knowledge then that if you joined the reserves you would avoid being sent to Vietnam.

Blumenthal – like most politicians – will not own up to personal failures.

But what concerns me even more is how many in the Fourth Estate failed in properly informing us about these events and took part in their own spins. Let’s keep in mind that the media is charged with monitoring what our public servants who prosecute (in civil court in this case)  those who lie to consumers, gets caught lying and then lies about it.

First, an applause to the New York Times for breaking a story that the Connecticut media (myself included) should have written. Then a dart for Times editors who forget Journalism 101 by only publishing on their website the incriminating portion of the video. Even though the whole video fails to clear Blumenthal, the Times helped the AG raise doubts about its story by changing the focus of the debate to the Times itself, which of course has a checkered history.

The Connecticut media – by in large – fell for it. Many proclaimed the ludicrous proposition that by editing out the first part of Blumenthal’s smoking gun video where he said he served during the Vietnam War, it showed that he wasn’t trying to lie when two minutes later he went further to say he was IN VIETNAM. That is like saying its ok to claim falsely you lived in Stamford if you first said you grew up in Connecticut.

Other reporters and columnists – maybe because of sloppy reporting, inexperience or time pressures – pretended there was only one misspeak. Few honed in on what former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (who had never been caught in a lie to my knowledge) said about his friend Dick Blumenthal: that for years he heard the attorney general at gatherings where they were at embellish his military record and outright claim to have served IN Vietnam.

So why are many in the Connecticut media giving Blumenthal a pass?

Based on my 40 years as a reporter and editor at The Courant I have some educated guesses. The media, by and large, (other than the publishers and editorial page editors) tend to be liberals, especially at large newspapers like The Courant. Most went to liberal arts schools with little educational background in logic, statistics, finance, economy, and history.

Trust me, if this were a conservative Republican he or she would have been crucified by now. Just look at the flack that one of Blumenthal’s Republican opponent is taking for leaking THE WHOLE video tape to the NY Times. How many newspapers have exp0laining this week that its the norm for candidates to research their opponents and feed tips to reporters based on their findings. Its not as if political reporters were in a coma.

There is also the embarrassment factor that it was an out of state paper that scooped us all. There is a natural tendency among reporters and the media to downplay stories they got beat on and play up stories they break.

Then there is a cozy relationship between Blumenthal and the media – a fact I too am guilty of.  Blumenthal, until he went into hiding Tuesday evening, spent hours a day returning calls to newspapers insisting that only he and no one else in his office could respond on the record to the simplest questions. He was easier for any reporter to reach then most town first selectmen. And Blumenthal knows how to give good sound bites.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. My guess is that there will be other revelations about Blumenthal’s integrity, other videos or credible people will speak up. Maybe someone will also look deeper into whether Blumenthal falsely claimed to have been the captain of the Harvard swim team than today’s Courant article, or take a closer record of some of his failed investigations, or false charges he made, or people he let slide.

My guess is that those disclosures will come from the Washington Post, New York Times, and perhaps Internet news sites like CtWatchdog. I would rather see it from some newspaper reporter who is just out for the truth, or as much of it as possible.

The Waterbury Republican American today made it clear it wasn’t going to be hoodwinked: This is its editorial;

‘Rambo’ Blumenthal: One lie begets another

Attempting to explain away what otherwise was a noncontroversy over how he came to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1970, Democrat Richard “Rambo” Blumenthal, attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate, said something remarkable:

“A lot of people were making a lot of different choices during that period. Some people decided not to serve. I could have continued in the White House with a deferment. I wanted to move on with my life. I wanted to serve the country.”

No, he joined to duck the draft and stay out out of Vietnam, and a timeline published by The New York Times the other day helps prove it:

Dec. 1, 1969: The government has its first military draft since World War II. Mr. Blumenthal’s number is 152; men with numbers 195 or lower who didn’t have deferments were called. Mr. Blumenthal at the time had an occupational deferment related to his job in the Nixon White House.

Jan. 10, 1970: The Nixon administration announces the president might abolish job deferments soon.

Feb. 16, 1970: Mr. Blumenthal gets a second job deferment, his fifth overall.

April 6, 1970: Mr. Blumenthal enlists in the reserves. Two weeks later, Richard Nixon abolishes job deferments by executive order.

Throughout this period, Dick Blumenthal was an aide to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Officially the chief adviser for urban affairs, Mr. Moynihan was a valued member of Mr. Nixon’s exclusive inner circle, one of his closest advisers and most trusted confidantes. According to documents from the Nixon Presidential Library, Mr. Moyn- ihan was one of the main participants in high-level discussions that shaped White House policies on the war, the military and the growing anti-war movement at home.

Dick Blumenthal was a lawyer on Pat Moynihan’s staff. Based on declassified documents reviewed by author James Rosen for his book, “The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate,” Mr. Blumenthal was intimately involved in the administration’s response to anti-war protests.

According to Mr. Rosen, Mr. Blumenthal was “deputized to serve as a liaison” for the Nixon White House to the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe), which staged the famous anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., in 1969.

Mr. Blumenthal was so involved, in fact, that Mr. Moynihan later had to defend him in writing against allegations by Attorney General John Mitchell that Mr. Blumenthal was a New Mobe double agent.

Dick Blumenthal worked for Pat Moynihan and helped shape the White House’s domestic strategies on the Vietnam war. He would have learned, directly, from Mr. Moynihan or from other administration officials, that Mr. Nixon’s executive order abolishing job deferments was imminent.

Dick Blumenthal joined the Marine Reserve so he wouldn’t be drafted and end up chest deep in a South Vietnam rice paddy. Consequently, while the men and women whose valor he has stolen were fighting and dying a half a world away, he saw action in Toys for Tots campaigns, a worthy program but not one that presents the moral dangers of combat.

So 40 years later, when he says “I could have continued in the White House with a deferment” and “I wanted to serve my country,” Dick Blumenthal is lying through his teeth.