I posted the following Comment in the NYTimes in response to the Senate candidate’s misleading speeches (“lies” may be too strong a word for it) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/nyregion/19veterans.html regarding service in Vietnam:
What bothers me even more than his inferences of having served in Vietnam is that Blumenthal’s Vietnam campaign strategy works directly against the nation’s welfare today, as he tries to generate anger over Vietnam so as to garner veterans’ votes. I could say as he does “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.” But not done against veterans (his audience), but against those who served their country by speaking out against the Vietnam War. I could say much. It then becomes a pointless argument about who abused whom, who started it, how much, and so on.
GET OVER IT. That is not the issue confronting American voters (including veterans) today.
(Incidentally, the NYTimes op-ed article by Pressler published this same day regarding the after-effects of the Vietnam War is both misleading and superficial in limiting itself to the single topic of those who cynically avoided the Vietnam War such as Blumenthal. At that stressful moment in our history there were heroes and villains and many in-between, and they existed on all sides of this controversial war.
Is there a trend here? See http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/024032.php
Mark Kirk, running for Obama’s old Senate position, embellished his military record also. This may say something about society as much as the individuals — exageration becomes the new truth.
Comment by admin — July 3, 2010 @ 8:02 am