I remember John Kerry showing up for a campaign event in Worcester in 2008 – with Max Cleland and a busload of veterans they’d policed up from the Pine Street Inn in Boston.  If you weren’t aware of what you were seeing,  it looked like Kerry actually liked these guys and cared about veterans.

But when the 40-minute photo-op was over – Kerry and Cleland got into a van, leaving his “veteran buddies” to ride back to Boston on the bus with their $100 bill and a little less dignity, used and dumped.

It wasn’t Kerry’s first go-round using troops for props.  Politicians – the sleazy ones – never learn.

Back during his 2004 bid for the presidency – Kerry had used a few Swift Boat crewmen as props for his claim to be a war hero.  He wanted to look like the next coming of John Kennedy – substituting a Swift Boat for PT 109.  But despite using a few willing dupes, the rest of his two former squadrons mortgaged their homes to pay for the website “Swift Vets for Truth” – and it awakened just enough thinking Americans that we were spared the ketchup Presidency.

The MSM of course put a reverse spin on the issue, promptly inventing the word “Swiftboating” to describe a political campaign derailed by dirty tricks.  The Swift Vets aren’t dirty – Kerry is. 

Now comes again Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal – already in trouble for claiming to have served as a Marine in Vietnam [he never left the States] – is using troops for props while trying to deflect questions about accepting PAC money [$480,000 this year] for his campaigns.  Here he is pictured with some Marine veterans – apparently in a show of “all is forgiven”.

But there is a big “Oh shit!” in the picture.  The guy right behind Blumenthal – in the sports jacket – is a known phony – William Joseph Trumpower – aka Elliot Storm, who has a lifelong record of exaggerating his rank, his medals, his service, and his war-related disabilities.  Do you thing Blumenthal checked, – or cares?  Nah, he just wants the photo-op. 

Last week the über-liberal 9^th Circuit Court ruled that it’s not a crime to lie about or wear medals you haven’t earned.  (Perhaps they were thinking of Kerry’s next Presidential run?)  So parts of the Stolen Valor Act are null for the moment. 

Americans need to ask questions.  Not everybody claiming to be a hero or a veteran really is.  Many never served.  Others like South Carolina Democrat candidate for the US Senate Alvin Greene have lackluster records. 

Beware of phonies!

   /s/  Iron Mike
   Old Soldier, – Still Good for Parts!

Connecticut’s Attorney General since 1991 – Dick Blumenthal has high hopes of taking the seat being vacated by that lying crook Chris “Countrywide” Dodd.  I guess it’s a fit, since Dick has now been caught in a big lie himself. 

Seems he’s been claiming for years to have been a Marine in Vietnam.  Good stuff!  Fits the image of a crusading attorney general.  Always a fighter!!

  “I served during the Vietnam era,” he said. “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.”

Alas, tain’t so.  It seems the real truth is that Young Richard worked safely in the White House back then,  and kept getting educational deferments to go to Harvard and Yale until the war was nearly over and we were pulling out.  THEN he joined a Marine Reserve outfit.  He served in the Washington DC area – doing Toys for Tots.

It’s an all-too-common phenomenon – men falsifying their service time, or exaggerating their valor.  That’s why Congress passed the Stolen Valor Act.  Right now it’s unclear if Blumenthal’s lies fall under it,  for he may not have worn any uniforms or medals nor used his lies to advance his career.  Or did he?    But there is a common thread with liars.  The lie – once told, – must keep being told and retold.  It never goes away.  Now Richard may have to fade away, and hope he doesn’t have to “go away”.

And he would have soo fit right in with Kerry!

   /s/  Iron Mike
   Old Soldier, – Still Good for Parts!

Murtha – Always A Windbag

Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha died today at age 77.  He represented the PA 12^th District.   His gall bladder saved him from an embarrassing re-election defeat,  and saved the voters of the 12^th from any further embarrassment.   Remember in ’08 when he called them - his own voters –  racists?  

I’ll shed no tears for him.  I saw him as a bloated bombastic windbag, – always looking for the TV cameras and almost always on the wrong side of issues.  He was probably the “King of Pork” in Congress – the John Murtha Airport – with only three flights daily – being one of the more glaring examples.

I’ll let the Marines who served around him write his final epithet.  For my 2 cents worth: “G’bye John, – we won’t miss ya’!” 

   /s/  Iron Mike
   Old Soldier, – Still Good for Parts!