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Blumenthal, The Inside Outsider

"Sen. Dodd and I agree on many things, but we also disagree on many things. I'm not reluctant to say that I've never been a part of Washington. I've never been an insider. And I'm happy to be running to stand up for ordinary people." – Democratic Party Nominee Richard Blumenthal

It strains credulity to view Mr. Blumenthal as a political outsider. He has been, variously in his long political career, an administrative assistant to U.S. Senator Abraham Ribbicoff; an aid to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, later a U.S. senator, when Mr. Moynihan was an assistant in President Richard Nixon's White House in 1969; a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun in 1974; U.S. Attorney for Connecticut at the ripe young age of 31; and a volunteer council for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Mr. Blumenthal also wrote for the Washington Post newspaper. These are all Beltway connections. Additionally, Mr. Blumenthal served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives representing the 145th District, and in 1987 he won a special election to fulfill a vacancy in the state Senate at the age of 41. Elected in 1990 as Connecticut’s Attorney General, Mr. Blumenthal has served in that capacity for 20 years. This is not the resume of a political outsider.

In the face of Mr. Blumenthal’s newly minted claim to the contrary, Gregory B. Hladky of the New Haven Advocate noted, somewhat archly, “Looks like Blumenthal's once again handed a self-made baseball bat to Republican Linda McMahon and asked her to whop him over the head.”

The whops were not long in coming:

Statement by Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy Concerning Dick Blumenthal’s Conversion to Free Market Principles and Statements Attacking Sen. Dodd

“’Dick Blumenthal has now abandoned all modicum of decency and courage. He is engaged in moral shape shifting to save his dying campaign.’

“’Tomorrow he might announce he is for off shore drilling and supports extending the Bush Tax cuts – even for Linda McMahon. Oh, and look for him to oppose the mosque near Ground Zero.’”

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