I Believe Richard Blumenthal

I’m suddenly reminded of the late Michael Kelly.

In that vein, I believe.

I believe Richard Blumenthal. I believe him when he says it was accidental slip of the tongue to say “I served in Vietnam” before a group of veterans in Norwalk in 2008. I believe that he also accidentally said the wrong words when he said “when we returned” from Vietnam at an event with troops in 2003.

I believe that when he said “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse,” he didn’t mean to infer that he himself had experienced that.

I believe that he never saw at least eight newspaper articles published in Connecticut from 2003 to 2009, that described him as having served in Vietnam. I believe that he never saw the profile of him on Slate in 2000 that implied he served in Vietnam. I believe that it is through no fault of his own that his own campaign staff came to believe he had served in Vietnam.

I believe that he never saw articles that mentioned him as captain of the swim team at Harvard. I believe Blumenthal when he says he has no idea how these false achievements keep ending up in articles about him.

I believe that a vast right wing conspiracy of enemies have been feeding false facts to newspapers, laying the trap that has only been sprung today.

I believe Blumenthal when he says that even though the article had no facts wrong, that the New York Times report is an “outrageous distortion” of his record. I believe that the fact that he has sometimes said in public that he didn’t serve in Vietnam completely exonerates him of any wrongdoing.

I believe that the New York Times is part of a vast-right wing conspiracy.