Ramblumenthal

Hard to say just how bad a candidate he is.

In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military families gathered to express support for American troops overseas. “When we returned, we saw nothing like this,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Let us do better by this generation of men and women.”

At a 2008 ceremony in front of the Veterans War Memorial Building in Shelton, he praised the audience for paying tribute to troops fighting abroad, noting that America had not always done so.

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

Except he had something like five deferments and eventually ended up in the Marine Reserves. He never served in Vietnam.

Never has a Senate candidate had an easier path down which he stumbles.

UPDATE: Well, this is interesting. Blumenthal's deep-pockets possible opponent, wife of the WWF founder, claims that the NYT story was a result of their campaign's oppo research.

Making the claim more explicitly, McMahon's campaign website has re-posted, as an "In Case You Missed It," a blog entry by Kevin Rennie of South Windsor, a lawyer and a former Republican state senator and representative:

“McMahon Strikes Blumenthal In NYT Article ... The piece, fed to the paper by the Linda McMahon Senate campaign, is accompanied by a chilling 2008 video of Blumenthal blithely making the false claim. ... The Blumenthal Bombshell comes at the end of more than 2 months of deep, persistent research by Republican Linda McMahon's Senate campaign. It gave the explosive Norwalk video recording to The Times. This is what comes of $16 million, a crack opposition research operation.”

Rennie quotes no sources. The campaign’s decision to trumpet his dispatch allows Democrats to contend the expose was political — an argument that may not work, but at least gives them a talking point on a tough day. By late morning, the page featuring the blog entry was no longer live, showing a "Not Found" message.

Stupid.

I hope that this is a a wake up call for the Blumenthal campaign. He's not going to be annointed and better figure out his message and start campaigning for the office.