Happy Hour Vid: The Video That Could Save Blumenthal

Heather Horn May 19, 2010

This is the video that some think could save Democrat Richard Blumenthal from the scandal threatening to scuttle his campaign for U.S. Senate. Blumenthal's support is dwindling, reports Reuters, following The New York Times story stating that Blumenthal falsely claimed in 2008 to have served in Vietnam. But bizarrely, a video of the speech in question--ironically circulated by staffers of Blumenthal's opponent, Republican candidate Linda McMahon--may get Blumenthal off the hook. In the opening minutes, Blumenthal says he served in the military "during the Vietnam era." Later in the speech he makes the misstatement--the "'in Vietnam' conflation,'" as Dave Weigel puts it--but not in the beginning.

The New York Times defends its editing of the video here.

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Heather Horn

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Topics: Republicans

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