A look at Connecticut’s Machiavelli

Contrary to popular belief, Sarah Palin never said she can see Russia from her house; Volvos are no longer the safest cars on the market; and Richard Blumenthal never served in Vietnam.

Yet, thanks to brilliant political maneuvering, many Americans believe the aforementioned falsities to be true.

Among them, Blumenthal’s fantastic military experience takes the cake.

Blumenthal, the Connecticut Attorney General, is currently in the midst of an election campaign for Democrat Chris Dodd’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat. Regarded as a brilliant legal mind with a precise and persuasive tongue, Blumenthal has limned himself as a veritable Vietnam War veteran.

Like our other pansy politicians, such as Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Blumenthal evaded the draft with agile posturing and effective deferrals.

As the son of a wealthy businessman, Blumenthal grew up living a comfortable life, meaning it was never likely that he’d be drafted.

Instead of humping through the Charlie-infested jungles of Vietnam, Blumenthal enrolled at Harvard in 1963, giving him two student deferments. There, he made invaluable contacts that would provide him with career opportunities and more ways to evade the draft.

After college, Blumenthal went to England to study at Cambridge and file stories for the Washington Post. This gave him another educational deferment for graduate studies.

Blumenthal then managed to obtain a 2-A occupational deferment, which exempted him from military service because it was in the nation’s best interest that he remain in his civilian job.

Does being an assistant to a newspaper’s publisher protect national security? No, not at all.

Blumenthal then worked for the Nixon White House and managed to score a spot in the Marine Corps Reserves, which virtually guaranteed him safety until the war ended.

Instead of going off to war, Blumenthal taught public school children around D.C. and organized Toys for Tots drives.

It sounds like Blumenthal was really roughing it out among the little kids. Yeah, right.

Despite having never set foot in Vietnam as a Marine, Blumenthal has claimed to have fought there on several occasions.

At many recent military ceremonies, Blumenthal has recounted stories of returning from Vietnam and remembering the verbal and physical abuse he was met with as a veteran.

Of course, Blumenthal denies having any recollection of making such assertions and said his “intention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward, out of respect to the veterans who served in Vietnam.” His actions indicate otherwise.

Blumenthal has repeated these falsities and ambiguities so many times that news sources such as Slate and The Connecticut Post have repeated them in glowing profiles of the politician.

Having accepted the obvious fact that all politicians lie, I’m not even upset at this deception as a former Connecticut resident.

Politicians must use the tools of deceit to fulfill their goals and their constituents’ desires.

Blumenthal just happens to do it so well that he’s turned a preposterous lie into published truth.

With polls placing Blumenthal in the lead in the upcoming election, he will likely glide into office with a strong mandate.

I put my faith in Blumenthal, a man who has proved he won’t let anything, including the truth, get in the way of his success.

I only hope he betters the country with the same tenacity.


E-mail: yzchaudh@indiana.edu