Blumenthal regrets ‘misplaced words’

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D) said Tuesday he regrets his “misplaced words” about service in Vietnam.

His Senate campaign was rocked last night when the NY Times reported that on multiple occasions Blumenthal had claimed to have served in Vietnam. Though he did serve in the Marine Corps reserves during the war, he was always stateside.

“On a few occasions I have misspoken about my service. And I regret that, and I take full responsibility,” Blumenthal said in a press conference this afternoon.

“I will not allow anyone to take a few misplaced words and impugn my record of service to our country,” he added.

Repeating the phrase “misplaced words” multiple times throughout his statement, Blumenthal said he had sometimes accidentally said “‘in’ instead of ‘during'” when discussing his Vietnam service.

For example, the NY Times reported this utterance from Blumenthal in 2008: “We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam … And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”

And this: “When we returned, we saw nothing like this … Let us do better by this generation of men and women.”