WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Trying to defuse a crisis that could give the GOP a powerful opening, Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday he “misspoke” in claiming more than once that he served in Vietnam and dismissed the furor as a matter of “a few misplaced words.”
At a news conference where he surrounded himself with veterans, the Connecticut attorney general and front-runner to replace retiring Christopher Dodd said he meant to say he served “during” Vietnam instead of “in” Vietnam. He said the errors were “totally unintentional.”
Democrats in Connecticut and Washington stood by Blumenthal, and neither party said the incident was enough to instantly sink his candidacy. But the controversy raised Republican hopes of taking a seemingly safe seat away from the Democrats and reducing their Senate majority.
The crisis erupted when The New York Times reported Monday that Blumenthal had repeatedly distorted his military service and that he intimated more than once that he was a victim of the abuse heaped on Vietnam veterans upon their return home. At a veterans event in Shelton, Conn., for example, he said, “When we returned from Vietnam, I remember the taunts, the verbal and even physical abuse we encountered,” according to a 2008 Connecticut Post story.
Blumenthal, 64, joined the Marine Reserve in 1970 and served six years, none of it overseas. He received at least five military deferments that enabled him to stay out of the war between 1965 and 1970, the Times reported.
Blumenthal is widely known for his dedication to veterans’ issues He also is known as a straight-arrow and a man of integrity.
“People are going to look at him differently,” said John Feehery, a GOP consultant in Washington.
