During a lengthy Thursday interview, MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell suggested GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and Cain clarified that he was not a service member in the Navy but worked as an employee of the Navy designing artillery. After finding this out, O’Donnell immediately asked Mr. Cain why he “avoided” military service, implying that because he did not volunteer like John Kerry, that disqualifies Mr. Cain from becoming Commander-in-Chief:

After Cain explained that he made himself available for the draft but simply was not picked, O’Donnell doubled down with this lengthy harangue:

I am offended on behalf of all the veterans of the Vietnam War who joined, Mr. Cain — the veterans who did not wait to be drafted like John Kerry, who joined. They didn’t sit there and wait to find out what their draft board was gonna do. They had the courage to join and to go and to fight that war. What prevented you from joining, and what gives you the feeling that after having made that choice, you should be the Commander in Chief?

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Has the liberal media started rushing the exits in an effort to escape from Camp Obama?  I believe this to be true.  But don’t take my word for it — let’s examine the evidence.

It may have all started with James Carville.  Last week, Carville was on CNN with Anderson Cooper , flipping out about the administration’s response to the BP spill.  Not long after that Carville took his frothy charges of “political stupidity” to ABC, making some strong accusations about the lack of leadership and competence coming from the big office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Perhaps James Carville?s rabid rants were also a signal to the formerly faithful members of the press that vacation time was over and real reporting and journalism was going to be back in fashion.

On June 1, Maureen Dowd of the financially troubled, yet still venerated New York Times, wrote a op-ed piece that wondered if “Yes we can” has been downgraded to “Will we ever?”  She later proclaimed, “The oil won’t stop flowing, but the magic has.” (more…)

In the wake of revelations by the New York Times that Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal lied about serving in Vietnam, the Beltway media has already gone into its protective crouch: yesterday’s breathtakingly defiant and disgraceful press conference is being hailed as a win. From Politico, which ought to know better:

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s defiant response to a report that he falsely claimed to have served in Vietnam appears to have salvaged his Democratic nomination for the Senate.

“Defiant?” That’s one way to put it.

But the controversy touched off by a story in The New York Times has robbed the Democratic Party of another safe seat and reopened the door, if narrowly, to Republicans’ retaking control of the upper house this fall. Blumenthal’s self-inflicted wound is the latest in a surprising series of retirements, deferrals, misfortunes and intramural bloodbaths that have transformed a map seen a year ago as heavily favoring Democrats into a grab bag of Republican opportunities deep in Obama country.

Boo hoo. A series of unfortunate events is robbing the Democrats of their historic opportunity to inflict unwanted hope and change. (more…)

And the truth shall set you free — and most likely kill your political career.  The frontrunner to be Chris Dodd’s replacement in the Connecticut senatorial campaign, Richard Blumenthal, has been dealt a possible death blow in his Senate hopes.  With the deadline looming Friday to nominate Dodd’s replacement, it seems that candidate Blumenthal, as hard as this was for the Times to break, must step down.

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “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.”

There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

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Imagine you’re a month-old political group that exists chiefly on Facebook. You’ve never mounted a protest of any size or significance. You’ve collected $500 in online donations. Your first meeting in the Seattle area generated less enthusiasm than a 2003 demonstration against a local latte tax.

Question: How much media coverage can you realistically expect?

A. A big story in your neighborhood shopper.

B. A little story in your metropolitan daily.

C. A 1,700-word feature story, three photos and an online chat session, all courtesy of the Washington Post. (more…)