RUSH: Another Democrat has enhanced his resume in a blue state. This would be the Attorney General of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal. He said that he served in Vietnam when he did not. He lied about it. He was never there. Now, the interesting thing about this is, ladies and gentlemen — Snerdley, I want you to be on the lookout because what happens here when we bring subjects like this up, you’re going to have people calling in here, ‘Wait, Limbaugh, you didn’t serve, either, you didn’t.’ I never lied about it, though. I never said I was there. I never said I even went over there for a USO show. I never said I was in Vietnam. But saying that you are lying about your service in Vietnam can get you elected to the US Senate. It’s called John F. Kerry, the haughty John Kerry who everybody knows served in Vietnam.
Now, Blumenthal here is from a blue state. Blue states hate the military. So anything to embarrass himself, the military, it’s not necessarily a bad thing here for Blumenthal in the Democrat Party. I mean if there was an instance in his past where he had lied about medals that he got while he was in Vietnam and then threw fake versions of those medals over a fence at the White House, why, he might be elected president someday or at least get the Democrat Party presidential nomination. So let’s go to the audio sound bites. This is March 2nd, 2008. This was all dug up, by the way, by Linda McMahon, who is Vince McMahon’s wife of the World Wrestling Federation. Now, she had it on her website, it’s been scrubbed, they were proud to have dug this up. Here’s Blumenthal at a veterans ceremony in March of 2008.
BLUMENTHAL: We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam, and you exemplify. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call Afghanistan or Iraq, we owe our military men and women unconditional support.
RUSH: All right, now, this is one of the Democrat Party’s rising stars, he still may be. So that’s the setup. Here’s the lie.
BLUMENTHAL: Serving in the United States military gave me a perspective as well, even in the Reserves, although I did not serve in Vietnam.
RUSH: Now, that’s the Blumenthal campaign putting out another tape. That was from March 1st of 2010 where he has corrected the lie, but there’s previous audio where he has said he served in Vietnam. Now two years later he’s clarifying that he did not serve in Vietnam, only in the Reserves at Parris Island, South Carolina. So let’s go to the arbiter on this. No, I don’t mean Mary Mapes and Dan Rather. Speaking of which, do you think we’ll get a story about this from Mary Mapes, wherever she is, and Dan Rather? Well, here’s The Forehead. Paul Begala was asked about this last night on Anderson Cooper 225. Cooper said, ‘At least eight newspaper articles from 2003 to 2009 describe Blumenthal as having served in Vietnam. This is a savvy guy.’ See? See? This is a savvy guy. He lied about his service in Vietnam. Bush did not lie about anything and he’s an idiot. But Blumenthal is a savvy guy, according to Anderson Cooper 225. ‘This is a savvy guy. This is a lawyer. This is the attorney general of Connecticut. Why on earth would he mislead people as to the nature of his time in the military?’ Here’s The Forehead.
BEGALA: There is no good or ethical reason that he could have possibly done that, Anderson. He did serve with real distinction in the Marine Corps Reserves, but never served in Vietnam. And you read those four words, ‘I served in Vietnam.’ That appears to be factually false. It’s indefensible. It’s a catastrophic mistake because it’s not the sort of mistake people tend to make.
RUSH: It wasn’t a mistake, it was a lie. Now, the New York Times headline on this is just over the top great: ‘Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History.’ Is that not a great headline? (laughing) I mean think what you will of the New York Times, but the ways they come up with to cover for their guys is just amazing. ‘Candidate’s Words on Vietnam Service Differ From History.’ You know, it’s so rare to find a Democrat liar. I’m being facetious, yes, of course. I think maybe what this guy’s doing, I think at the end of the day he will come out and support the new courageous restraint metal that we announced last week, the Obama administration is calling the Yellow Cross, the Yellow Star, and it’s going to be given to people who, probably posthumously, showed great restraint in combat and did not pull the trigger. Maybe that’s what he’s angling for here, to be the first to receive this award, because he didn’t go to Vietnam and therefore showed courageous restraint, and that’s how he can turn this around. Look for it. I’m not predicting it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
A couple questions, though, on this. In the big scheme of things, what’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about everything your administration’s doing? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about your own health care plan? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about a stimulus bill creating jobs in the private sector? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about the swine flu being a national emergency? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about Obamacare bending the cost curve down and lowering premiums by $2,500 a year? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about the need to create a bigger deficit in order to reduce the deficit? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about transparency, lying about health care hearings on C-SPAN, lying about posting your bills five days before they are voted on on the Internet?
What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about not resting until jobs are created and the oil spill is cleaned up, and then heading off to play golf and basketball? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about the Arizona immigration law that no one in the Obama administration seems to have read? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or making comments on a piece of legislation that attacks American citizens in a state that you haven’t read? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about closing Guantanamo Bay? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about preventing Iran from developing nukes? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about no new taxes for those making under $250,000 a year? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about your relationship with a domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, who blew up the Pentagon and said he didn’t go far enough? I don’t think Blumenthal ever had any idea to do that, well maybe he had an idea but not in his head, but he didn’t do it if he ever thought it.
What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about not wanting to run car companies and taking them over? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam, or lying about what the tea parties are about and who attends them? What’s worse, lying about serving in Vietnam or lying about working with Republicans while slamming the door in their faces? What’s worse? You tell me. ‘Cause I don’t know where you stop, when you start talking about liberalism and this regime especially, it’s all lies. So you stack all of those lies up against Blumenthal, who said he served in Vietnam and then didn’t, you tell me, which is worse?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know, no matter how egregious it is to misrepresent your military service such as Blumenthal saying he served in Vietnam, I still think that pales in comparison to the things that Jack Murtha said about our Marines in Haditha and throughout the Iraq war. I don’t care what Blumenthal said. It’s not a surprise a liberal would lie about it. What surprises me… You know, Tom Harkin made up the same story, that he had served in Vietnam when he didn’t. Now, these guys all hated it. They all hated Vietnam. Why do they want to appear to be so valorous about having served there? I guess it’s typical liberalism: You speak before a certain group and you lie to them about who you are. You say what you think or know they want to hear. So, yeah, Blumenthal is what he is — but Murtha! For crying out loud, rapists, terrorist murderers? That’s what Murtha said and now his pip-squeak aide is running for his seat. That’s one of the interesting races taking place in Pennsylvania.
Elena Kagan talks about all these ‘distractions’ and Obama talks about all these ‘distractions’ at his commencement speech. Distractions: iPads, iPhones. Remember? These are distractions. Too much information! It makes it impossible to govern when there’s too much information, because it makes it impossible — well, makes it more difficult — to get away with your lies. Well, if it weren’t for all these ‘distractions,’ like the iPad, the Internet and so forth, we wouldn’t know about Blumenthal’s lies about this. Were it not for all of those ‘distractions.’
Speaking of which, here’s Tom in Kansas City as we go back to the phones, great to have you here, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hello. Thank you, Rush. Dittos from Kansas City. I am a Marine veteran, by the way, and I was calling about Mr. Blumenthal’s comments about his service. I’m glad you brought up Congressman Murtha’s affiliation to the Marine Corps as well, because a lot of Marine veterans, when they hear this type of talk from our supposed leaders, you wonder what Marine Corps they were a part of. Because the one thing that the Marine Corps teaches you, one distinctive value is your honesty, your ability to have some type of character. When something like what Mr. Blumenthal said that was easily confirmed, that he was never even in Vietnam, and he says that publicly, just like five or six times I saw that on the Internet —
RUSH: A distraction.
CALLER: — over a five or six-year period, they weren’t accidents.
RUSH: The Internet’s a distraction. You might not have ever seen it if you didn’t access the Internet. This is why Obama’s cursing the Internet. You wouldn’t have ever known it.
CALLER: Oh, definitely.
RUSH: So what do you guys think, what do you Marines think when somebody comes out like General — by the way, they say ‘General Blumenthal,’ Attorney General — Blumenthal? It’s not ‘Mister.’
CALLER: Well —
RUSH: What do you think when a guy comes out and says, ‘I served in Vietnam,’ when he didn’t? What do you think?
CALLER: Well, we actually have a label for those types. We call ’em posers.
RUSH: Posers? Posers.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Like people who preen in front of a mirror?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Phonies.
CALLER: Somebody who’s admiring themselves for something they really didn’t do.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, ‘phony soldier,’ like —
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Yeah, okay.
CALLER: In the Marine Corps, you’re taught to earn things, and although you go to Vietnam, that’s not by choice; or you go to the Gulf War, that’s not by choice. Being in the Marine Corps is, and choosing how you represent yourself is a choice. And that goes back to one strong fundamental is that the point of the character issue, and that’s what I was hoping to get across to hopefully you and your listeners is: Just don’t judge him by he may have just lied but judge them by their character, too. That’s what it’s all about: You’re electing character, and that’s one thing that you hit on for over 20 years that I’ve listened to you.
RUSH: Yes, that’s absolutely true.
CALLER: Is the character.
RUSH: The argument was sorta destroyed, though, you know, during the Lewinsky era. The argument was, ‘Well, what is this talk about character? It didn’t get in the way of his running the government, didn’t get in the way of his doing his job.’ So it was rationalized away. It always will be rationalized away for Democrats.
CALLER: I was thinking that exactly while I was waiting on hold for you is I was trying to think, ‘How far, when did character stop mattering?’ And it did happen during the Clinton administration. I would have to say that, unfortunately.
RUSH: Well, I think it happened during the Clinton campaign of 1992, actually, because we already knew the bimbo eruptions.
CALLER: Well, that’s true. That’s true.
RUSH: Lewinsky shouldn’t have surprised anybody and it certainly didn’t surprise Hillary, I don’t care what she says.
CALLER: Ah, it was, ‘When was the next one going to happen?’ You know? You just never know. I mean, if there was one Lewinsky there’s probably a lot more.
RUSH: Well, we just got the news today that Mark Souder, some congressional Republican from Indiana, had an affair — with a female, by the way.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: He’s resigning.
CALLER: Yeah, I saw that he was resigning. Why doesn’t he just ride his term out? It isn’t as though he’s going to get reelected.
RUSH: You know, our guys resign. It’s not a resume enhancement for our guys, even if it is a woman that you’re having the affair with.
CALLER: (laughing) Exactly. But I guess enhancing your military profile for things you didn’t do is enhancing your career, too.
RUSH: Look, I’m glad you called, Tom. I appreciate learning that you guys have a word for these phonies who claim they served and they didn’t: Posers.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: All the best. It’s a great call. Thank you very much.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’m watching the most incredible thing here. I’m watching this Richard Blumenthal press conference responding to the controversy over the fact he said he served in Vietnam when he didn’t. By the way, NBC reported it today and did not mention he was a Democrat. CBS on their morning show did not report it at all. Now, Blumenthal… To give you an idea, he looks like a cross between Ron Howard with hair and Eliot Spitzer. That’s the best I can do. And he is surrounded by Marines! He found a bunch of Marines. They’re probably union guys wearing Marine caps for all I know. They look like union guys to me, and you know me, I mean I love the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. Wait ’til Dingy Harry gets hold of these guys. But even so, he’s surrounded by a bunch of Marines in red high school or college letter jackets, and he is talking about how proud he is to have served in the Marine Reserves.
One of those Marines is holding a flag. There they are. Yeah, they’re Marines. There’s a bunch of them there, camouflage caps. There’s one guy with a bandanna, looks like a biker. I mean, he’s got a cross section here of all kinds of Marines. He’s even got a female Marine back there. (doing impression) ‘I am proud of my service in the Marines.’ This is surreal. (interruption) Well, no no. There’s no wife standing by. That’s not his wife back there, is it? That can’t be his wife. I don’t know his wife’s. (laughing) I don’t know. Maybe I’m just getting too cynical here, but here’s a guy who said he served in Vietnam and he didn’t. (interruption) He regrets it? I know he regrets it! He said he ‘misplaced words.’ The New York Times said his ‘Words Differ From History.’ He’s proud to have served in the Marines. ‘I am proud that my son is currently active in the Marine Corps Reserve.’ (applause) Yeeeeeah! Right on!
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Interesting sound bite here. This is Blumenthal this afternoon, West Hartford, Connecticut, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. A reporter said, ‘There have been a number of articles written besides the New York Times article where the reporter said that you had served in Vietnam. With all the articles out there saying that you served in Vietnam, why didn’t you clear the record until today?’
BLUMENTHAL: There were a few articles, not many. I am responsible for my own statements and for any of my misplaced words any time that I misspeak. I can’t be responsible for all the articles. I may not even have seen them. And I know that I am not speaking about anyone in this room, but sometimes journalists do make mistakes. (journalists laughing) I’m responsible for my mistakes. I can’t be held responsible for all the mistakes in all the articles, thousands of them that are written about me.
RUSH: Whoa ho-ho-ho. Now, he said that he served in Vietnam. Journalists reported it, and he just blamed them for reporting it because those were misplaced words in his vernacular. It’s blue state. It isn’t gonna matter. I’m telling you, folks, it’s a resume enhancement to lie about your — look at John F. Kerry. You lie about it, you get elected.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Chicago, Joe, I have about a minute but I wanted to get to you anyway, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Yes. Rush, I was just looking in the Boston Globe and it said Blumenthal was deferred service five times in there, so maybe he was planning on going but he deferred himself from going.
RUSH: Well, he addressed that. I happened to hear him say that. You know what he said about the deferments?
CALLER: What’s that?
RUSH: Well, sometimes you don’t even know when you’re getting one. Sometimes they defer you in the draft board office and you don’t even know it. I was not aware of all the deferments I got.
CALLER: Hmm. Well, it sounds like something he needed to come up with. I wonder what he’ll say tomorrow.
RUSH: Well, maybe there are some other misplaced deferments that we don’t know about yet. Maybe there are more than five deferments. Look, can you say slime? Can you say oily? I mean just how else to describe this circumstance?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Very interesting little tidbit of news here by Richard Blumenthal. He was the editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. Now, if you have a position like that, if you are editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, which would be a journalistic media publication, you have a position like that, folks, there’s no way that you’re going to tell lies or misrepresent your past, right? If you’re a journalist? No way. No, I’m being facetious. Of course. He had training for this at Yale. That’s what I’m saying.