Blumenthal Needs To Consider Resigning From Atty Gen Post If He Doesn’t Admit To Lying

Richard Blumenthal has more to worry about than his race to take over the U.S. Senate seat of Chris Dodd.

He needs to be concerned about whether he can effectively serve out his last term as Connecticut’s Attorney General.

By continuing to insist that he did not lie and only misspoke when he falsely, and repeatedly told hundreds of people about having served in Vietnam as a Marine, Blumenthal is destroying whatever credibility he has left as chief enforcer of the state’s civil laws.

What judge is going to take seriously any petition from Blumenthal after this sordid chapter? A close look at his record will show other instances where he may have not lied, but certainly was less than forthright about why certain cases he brought failed.

And as time goes on the pressure will mount. This is the latest summary from Republication U.S. candidate Linda McMahon’s press release of comments the media in Connecticut and nationally are saying:

“Why Not A Press Conference To Say He’s Sorry?”

“When Blumenthal admits he misstated, as opposed to just misspeaking, then we can consider his apology sincere. Until then, he is still spinning his lies.” (George Gombossy, “Blumenthal’s and media’s warts….,” CT Watchdog, 5/24/10)

“Why the wait? Did he finally learn something from the Dodd Debacle and realize that you’ve got to come clean and apologize right away? Dick Blumenthal holds a press conference about everything, why not a press conference to say he’s sorry?” (Rick Green, “Blumenthal Didn’t Just Mis-speak. He’s Now Sorry.” Hartford Courant’s CT Confidential Blog, 5/24/10)

“And how did he do it? Did he go back to that same VFW and apologize for both his serial fabulism and for exploiting the VFW for his attempt to spin himself out of the controversy? Did he hold a press conference? No. He sent out an e-mail to the Courant, and didn’t even bother to do that personally.” (Ed Morrissey, “Blumenthal: OK, now I’m sorry,” Hot Air Blog, 5/24/10)

“The apology came only after the Courant and state veterans groups asked for one. I find the claim that he ‘took responsibility’ curious after he spent last week defending his ‘misplaced words.’” (Mary Katharine Ham, “Six Days Later, Blumenthal Apologizes for Vietnam Lies,” Weekly Standard Blog, 5/24/10)

“This Candidate Without Honor”

CHRIS MATTHEWS: “The United States Senate cannot take on the morally dead weight of this candidate without honor.” (MSNBC’s Hardball, 5/18/10)

COKIE ROBERTS: “If I were a Democratic strategist, I’d tell him to get out of the race.” (ABC News’ This Week, 5/23/10)

“And for a state and nation of families whose sons and daughters have risked or given their lives overseas in service to this country, it is unforgiveable. Richard Blumenthal should end his candidacy for the U.S. Senate and apologize to Connecticut voters.” (Editorial, “Blumenthal should drop out of Senate race,” Torrington Register Citizen, 5/19/10)

“Well, the time now has come for Blumenthal to finally serve his nation honorably. And for real. He should quit the race.” (Charles Hurt, “Time for war-story windbag to surrender,” New York Post, 5/19/10)

“Time for war-story windbag to surrender.” (Charles Hurt, “Time for war-story windbag to surrender,” New York Post, 5/19/10)

“In Mr. Blumenthal’s case, he didn’t do the honorable thing by quitting the race, nor did he give up his day job at the attorney general’s office.” (Editorial, “’Rambo’ Blumenthal: Pop Goes The Weasel,” Waterbury Republican American, 5/20/10)

CHRIS MATTHEWS: “If he stays in the race, that’s his call, just as it was his call all this time to say, he was a courageous combat veteran who returned from Vietnam, but for anyone who lifts a finger to put this man in the United States Senate, for that, I find no way to accept.” (MSNBC’s Hardball, 5/18/10)

FORTUNE MANAGING EDITOR ANDY SERWER: “I just don’t buy it at all. I think this guy should not run. I think he should resign.” (MSNBC’s Morning Joe, 5/24/10)

“When Attorney General Dick Blumenthal said he served in Vietnam, he didn’t ‘misspeak.’ He lied.” (Editorial, “Blumenthal’s Deeper Problem,” Manchester Journal Inquirer, 5/20/10)

“What’s not forgivable is his audacious claim that he deserves praise, not criticism, at this moment of exposure.” (Editorial, “Mr. Blumenthal’s Omission,” Washington Post, 5/19/10)

“But Carolanne Curry, a [Democratic] delegate from Westport, said she had abstained from the roll-call vote because Mr. Blumenthal had passed up a ‘golden opportunity’ to apologize. ‘People were ready to hear it,’ she said, referring to his nationally televised news conference on Tuesday. ‘But to equivocate, and defend — it was just too much for me. What’s the matter with ‘I’m sorry’?’ ‘You don’t put yourself out there as the height of integrity and get yourself caught up in such self-deception,’ she added. ‘It just will not work on the floor of the United States Senate.’” (David M. Halbfinger, “Defending Record, Blumenthal Wins Nomination,” New York Times, 5/21/10)

“The deception, as always, is something else. Blumenthal had every right under the law to seek deferments. He had every right to be proud of his service during the Vietnam era. But he did not have the right to build personal equity on the borrowed suffering of others. Had he gone to Vietnam, as he apparently thinks he should have, he would have learned that, and this: Real heroes never brag, and real Marines don’t lie.” (Kathleen Parker, “What Blumenthal Might Have Learned From The War Zone,” Washington Post, 5/23/10)

“We had an opportunity to learn a lot last week about both Connecticut’s attorney general and the Connecticut media. Both are far from perfect and there are too many examples of truth being distorted. State residents and especially people like me, who served in the military during the Vietnam War, now know unquestionably that our attorney general on many occasions – when television cameras weren’t around – out and out lied when he told crowds that he wore his Marine uniform in Vietnam.” (George Gombossy, “Blumenthal Apologizes For Vietnam Statements, Refuses To Admit He Lied,” CT Watchdog, 5/24/10)

“What he has been doing through much of his public career is to walk on the backs of those who really did serve in Vietnam – and falsely build affinity with those who serve today.” (Oliver North, “Blumenthal Walks On Backs Of Those Who Served In Vietnam,” Fox News, 5/19/10)

“There are few sins less forgivable in American politics than claiming unearned military valor. Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, may consider his false claim to have served in Vietnam to be ‘a few misplaced words,’ as he put it on Tuesday, but, in fact, this deception seems to have been part of a larger pattern of misleading voters.” (Editorial, “Mr. Blumenthal’s Misdirection,” New York Times, 5/19/10)

“Blumenthal’s deeper problem is that some voters will wonder: When, if ever, is this man real?” (Editorial, “Blumenthal’s Deeper Problem,” Manchester Journal Inquirer, 5/20/10)