Like bees and honey, needles and thread, or Glenn Beck and swastikas, politicians and lies go together like $arah Palin and stupid.
A perfect fit!
When it comes to douchebag politicians lying, misleading, or otherwise bending the truth about which trails they were hiking (like Appalachian paths to hot, extramarital sex in Buenos Aires), military service they did not complete, or distinguished honors they were never in fact awarded, the field is chock full ‘o potential embellishers, fabricators, and hyperbole-lovers of all stripes and sizes, on both sides of the political aisle.
The possibilities are endless–and that’s without exaggerating!
Apparently, unlike say, helping poor people not die in the street or go broke by reforming health care and Wall Street, or giving those pesky gays the right to die for the freedom they don’t themselves enjoy, skewing one’s military record seems to be as non-partisan and widespread as well, sleeping with a staffer during late nights at the office, or avoiding hunting trips (or any activity involving bullets & guns) with Dick Cheney.
About two weeks ago, Democratic Senate hopeful and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s service record became the hapless chum in the latest media feeding frenzy, after a speech emerged in which the Senate candidate said he served “in,” rather than “during,” the war in Vietnam. The lying, no-good rat bastard!
“At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves,” Blumenthal said. “I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words…I have made mistakes and I am sorry. I truly regret offending anyone. I will always champion the cause of Connecticut’s and our nation’s veterans.”
Almost as much as his own election campaign, no doubt. What a sweetheart!
Step aside, Richard Blumenthal, it appears you may have company! Hooray?
Not to be outdone by an evil, arugula-eating elitist DEMONcrat, Republican Rep. Mark Kirk may have done some less-than-savory exaggerating himself en route to maybe, just maybe, snagging that no-good Kenyan terrorist Barack Obama’s former senate seat in always-honorable Illinois, the original dysfunctional, red-headed stepchild of indicted governors and other freakin’ golden, uniquely-coiffed elected officials turned inmates.
You see, Mark Kirk, a Navy reservist elected to Congress in 2001, has made no secret about his illustrious military career, claiming on several occasions that he received the Navy’s exclusive Intelligence Officer of the Year award, given to just one brave, outstanding, individual patriot a year. Excluuuuusive!
This is a very big deal (as far as these things go!), and the perfect thing to boast about to the dumb, gullible masses. Except for one tiny, little, not-at-all-important detail: he never won it.
Ummm, ooops?
Turns out the distinguished Mr. Kirk, whose entire campaign is based on this achievement, as proof of his special specious qualifications to discuss national security spending. Unless by special you of course mean pulled out of that “special” place where the sun don’t shine.
The intelligence unit Kirk served in in Serbia in the 1990s (not he as an individual) won another award entirely—given not by the Navy (as he claimed), but by some private group called, the National Military Intelligence Association for outstanding service.
The award “citation in 2000 contains no mention of Kirk and instead designates the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing,” according to the Washington Post.
Hmmm, that’s odd.
Rep. Mark Kirk acknowledged the error in his official biography after The Washington Post began looking into whether he had received the prestigious award, which is given by top Navy officials to a single individual annually.
Kirk wrote on his blog that “upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified” and that the award he had intended to list was given to his entire unit.
His spokesman, the wonderfully Sarah Palin-esque named Eric Elk, would say only that “we found the award was misidentified and corrected the name.”
Good work, soldier!
Meanwhile, Kathleen Strand, communications director for the Giannoulias campaign, said that Kirk “is lying or embellishing his military record,” making him “the worst kind of Washington politician.”
You mean the only kind??
“Upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified as ‘Intelligence Officer of the Year,'” Kirk explained. “In fact…I was the recipient of the Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year award for outstanding support provided during Operation Allied Force.”
The Doofus, err, Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year award?? What the hell kind of bullsh*t is that?
I mean seriously people! That’s like me saying I won the Academy Award, before admitting the distinguished honor came not from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but the Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Why, is there a difference or something?
Even more mind-blowing is how such easy, honest mistakes defy the law of averages, with the statistically impossible outcome of making the politician look better, smarter, and more spectacular than they actually are, no less than 100% of the time.
Hmmm, I guess politics is the new pseudo-science of the obvious.
Obviously in need of some serious psychiatric care.
[…] thing to pretend you won the awesome Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year award instead of some lame-o, pathetic group award thingy no one’s ever heard of or cares about, out of a combination of insecurity and sheer […]
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