To continue from my diary yesterday on this issue, CT media personality Colin McEnroe (now on WNPR in Connecticut) puts together a long list of Connecticut political reporters who have covered Blumenthal over the years. All but one of them agree that Blumenthal had always been careful about his service record and saying he was not in Vietnam, including partisan Republican Kevin Rennie. There was one photographer who recalled differently, but he doesn't have a date or time when Blumenthal really claimed he was in Vietnam.
Also, the woman, Jean Risley, in the NY Times story who supposedly told the Times that Blumenthal had claimed to have been spat upon when he returned from Vietnam has strongly denied that she said it. In fact, she is claiming nobody has a better record of support for veterans than Dick Blumenthal and she had never heard him claim to have been in Vietnam.
Sorry for the short diary, but I have to get my daughter ready for school, but a bit more after the flip.
Some bits from Colin's "To Wit" blog:
- The AP now has the full video of the Norwalk speech. Elsewhere in that 2008 speech, writes Susan Haigh, Blumenthal describes his past accurately, saying he "served in the military during the Vietnam era." At minimum, New York Times reporter Raymond Hernandez should have included that detail in his story. This is, as I say, the big smoking gun in the story, and the Times failed to disclose that in that same speech, Blumenthal gave a more complete and accurate description of his service.
- Jean Risley, the woman from the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the source of the Times quote about Blumenthal claiming to have been spat upon, says she was misquoted and that Blumenthal never made false claims to her about Vietnam. She appeared at Blumenthal's event yesterday.
http://blogs.courant.com/...
Link to my diary from yesterday.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Edit: I'm flattered. I've been on Kos since 2003 and this is the first time I've made the rec list! Granted, I haven't written many diaries, but it's still a nice feeling. Thanks for the recommendations.