On Friday, senator stolen valor a.k.a. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT) apologized and pleaded ignorance when it was exposed that he attended an event affiliated with the Communist Party USA the previous weekend. The entire story came and went last week without so much as a second of airtime from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, or MSNBC.
“My understanding was that this ceremony was strictly a labor event. If I had known the details, I wouldn’t have gone,” the Senator said in a statement on Friday. “Let me just say very emphatically, I’m a Democrat and a strong believer in American capitalism. I have been consistently a Democrat and a strong supporter and believer in American capitalism.’'
Adding: “I go to a lot of events, places, meetings, rallies, and ceremonies in Connecticut. I’m delighted to be invited anywhere, and in this instance, I was invited by local labor unions to honor these three individuals, and that’s why I was there.”
Blumenthal’s home state paper, the Hartford Courant, came to his defense by suggesting it was only the political right what had an issue with him rubbing shoulders with Communists.
“After receiving increasing criticism by Republicans and conservative national media outlets, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday that he would not have attended a recent awards ceremony if he knew it had been tied to the Communist Party,” wrote capitol bureau chief Christopher Keating.
He also whined that “Blumenthal has been blasted on national websites and television, as well as by state and national Republicans, for the event at a New Haven church, where three friends were being honored. He said he had no idea that the event was linked to the Communist Party.”
Maybe Blumenthal would have known they were Communists had they made overt appeals for people to join their party. Oh, wait…
At the event, an organizer hit many of the Democratic Party’s talking points as he was pitching the Communist Party. “We invite you to join the Communist Party in this epic time as we make good trouble to uproot systemic racism, retool the war economy, tax the rich, address climate change, secure voting rights and create a new socialist system that puts people, peace and planet before profits,” Ben McManus proclaimed.
And another presenter said the quite part out loud and boasted about how socialism was the vehicle towards their political ends. “There's more and more people talking now about socialism in this country as it becomes more and more clear that capitalism is not going to work for our future,” she said.
Remember that the next time a member of the liberal media claims socialism and communism are Republican boogiemen used to gin up fear.
Instead of covering Blumenthal making friends with Communists (and as NewsBusters documented last week), the evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC spent over four minutes reporting on Christmas shipping and carrier deadlines. Their other oxygen stealing story was the January 6 Committee looking to hold former chief-of-staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress.
