Stand by Your 'Nam
Sometimes one word can make all the difference. On May 17, the New York Times reported on video footage that showed Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal claiming to have served in Vietnam. Though the attorney general was enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve during the Vietnam War, he never actually set foot in the country. Flanked by a gaggle of Vietnam veterans, Blumenthal appeared at a hastily called press conference to try to nip the story in the bud. "I regret that I misspoke," he said. When a reporter asked if he thought he needed to apologize, a chorus of gruff vets barked back a one-word response: "No!" But that wasn't the last Blumenthal heard of it — Linda McMahon, his Republican opponent, cut a brutal ad in the closing weeks of the campaign that asked, "If he lied about Vietnam, what else is he lying about?"