“A terribly weak and unreliable character”

Jonah Goldberg last week had a good summing up of the meaning of Richard Blumenthal’s lie about Vietnam:

Second, I don’t understand why some people think Blumenthal’s behavior is so complicated. Beyond the arguments about “stolen valor” and whatnot, it seems the most basic motivation is seduction. Public speaking, particularly for big-ego politicians, is an act of seduction. Love me, respect me, think I am special. Bill Clinton was perfect example of this sort of thing. He had a long record of telling audiences what he thought they most wanted to hear, particularly if it made him seem heroic or special (remember his line about the Church burnings of his childhood?). Joe Biden did the same thing when he plagiarized those coal mining speeches.

As for Blumenthal, he mostly lied to audiences convened to celebrate the military. Blumenthal thinks it’s a defense that in other circumstances he has been honest about his service record. That’s ludicrous. Some men lie to women at bars about being rich and single. That they sometimes tell the truth to others about being middle class and married is no defense, never mind an exoneration. Blumenthal couldn’t resist lying to audiences about his service record when those lies were both the most compelling and the most inexcusable. It reflects a terribly weak and unreliable character and I am honestly at a loss as to how anyone could truly see it differently.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 25, 2010 10:35 AM | Send