Blumenthal facing tough choice after false claims about serving in Vietnam

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic candidate for Senate, falsely claimed on numerous occasions to have served in Vietnam, the NY Times reports:

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.

On other occasions, Blumenthal referred to the difficulties soldiers faced when "we returned."