Blumenthal The Artful Dodger

Jack Schaeffer of Slate , generally not a scorpion's nest of Republican firebrands, reports on Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s early 70’s connections:

“The resourceful Blumenthal was nothing if not connected: When his student deferment clocked out, he got his draft board to give him a 2-A "occupational deferment" for his work as a special aide to Washington Post Publisher Katharine Graham, whom he met through her son Donald, a classmate at Harvard. The 2-A deferment was for jobs essential to the "national health, safety, and interest." (For the record, Donald Graham joined the Army and served in Vietnam, not that you'll ever hear him brag about it.)

“In 2008, Jack Shafer pondered Joe Biden's told grandiose lies. In 2004, Timothy Noah reported Dick Cheney's last ditch effort to duck the draft. Blumenthal's next stop was Richard Nixon's White House, where he secured yet another occupational deferment in 1970. But then Nixon began to replace the deferment hodge-podge with a draft lottery that would conscript young men no matter how noble their work or their student status. Blumenthal, who drew a very low number in the first lottery—virtually guaranteeing that he'd be drafted—made a desperate move while the clock was still running on his occupational deferment: He weaseled his way into the Marine Reserves, a branch that he correctly deduced would not be sent to Vietnam.”

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Obamagod!

My guess is that Barack Obama is a bit too modest to consider himself a Christ figure , but artist will be artists. And over at “ To Wit ,” a blog run by professional blogger, journalist, radio commentator and ex-Hartford Courant religious writer Colin McEnroe, chocolateers will be chocolateers. Nice to have all this attention paid to Christ so near to Easter.

The Blumenthal Burisma Connection

Steve Hilton , a Fox News commentator who over the weekend had connected some Burisma corruption dots, had this to say about Connecticut U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s association with the tangled knot of corruption in Ukraine: “We cross-referenced the Senate co-sponsors of Ed Markey's Ukraine gas bill with the list of Democrats whom Burisma lobbyist, David Leiter, routinely gave money to and found another one -- one of the most sanctimonious of them all, actually -- Sen. Richard Blumenthal."

Did Chris Murphy Engage in Private Diplomacy?

Murphy after Zarif blowup -- Getty Images Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, up for reelection this year, had “a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference” in February 2020, according to a posting written by Mollie Hemingway , the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. Was Murphy commissioned by proper authorities to participate in the meeting, or was he freelancing? If the former, there is no problem. If the latter, Murphy was courting political disaster. “Such a meeting,” Hemingway wrote at the time, “would mean Murphy had done the type of secret coordination with foreign leaders to potentially undermine the U.S. government that he accused Trump officials of doing as they prepared for Trump’s administration. In February 2017, Murphy demanded investigations of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn because he had a phone call with his counterpart-to-be in Russia. “’Any effort to undermine our nation’s foreign policy – e

Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

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