CA-Sen Update: Chuck DeVore – California’s Dick Blumenthal?

Folks – this is not one of my sarchastic swipes at DeVore. This one hits at the core – My grandfather, 94 installed Radar on Navy ships in WWII as a Civillian Contractor. My other Grandfater (Father’s Side) was a Master Sargeant in the Army (why I cherish my title as CRA Sgt at Arms).

Great Uncle – Air Force Officer, Father Navy, Brother Army Guard, Uncle reitred Colonel, Green Beret in Vietnam (Silver Star, Congressional Medal of Merit) and I was a Sailor.

… and Chuck DeVore is a fraud. Again. This time it is not political – it is on a personal level. Those that support Chuck DeVore should take a long look.

Chuck DeVore has had his Dick Blumenthal moment. He has been caught in three and maybe more misrepentations (see also lies) about his military service.

LA Times – Chuck DeVore has a staunch Conservative Record – but the title belies the content – which is a correction of the record about Chuck DeVore’s military service.

Word Parsing

During a radio debate with them in early March, DeVore talked of being the sole candidate in the Senate race with military experience. “I’m a lieutenant colonel of military intelligence within the U.S. Army,” he said. His campaign material shows he’s a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army retired reserves.

DeVore said both references are accurate because the retired reserves are part of the Army: “My nameplate says U.S. Army.”

Give me a break, any Military man knows there is a difference.

On to outright Lie Number One:

He spoke during the debate of being “shot at in Lebanon” but did not make clear that the shooting occurred in the 1980s while DeVore was a college student studying Arabic and other subjects in the Middle East. Nor did he note that while the shooting was in his vicinity, there was no indication he was a target or was in actual danger.

Outright Lie Number Two:

“The Syrians shot at us and kind of drove us off the hill, because they didn’t want press over there. It was like warning shots,” (DeVore Said)

(another person who was there said)… the Israeli troops taunting the Syrians, who fired shots in response. But Zelnick said they were out of range and that Israeli journalists present had publicly teased him for reacting to the gunshots. “Nothing I saw or experienced could reasonably be interpreted as our having been driven off the hill by Syrian fire,”

And the truth:

DeVore said he was “shot at” only once in his military career; during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. His National Guard unit was deployed near Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza and, while the troops were on patrol, a gunshot blew out the window of a car about 20 feet away.

“We didn’t know whether it was a stray round, whether it was a sniper,” DeVore said.

Remember when DeVore said, “Everything is on the table – including tax increases?”

This is now part of a consistent behavior pattern…

… and This is the classic definition of Stolen Valor and Chuck DeVore is now open to scrutiny for his gross exaggeration of his military service record.

When you look at his ballot designations in 2006: Assemblyman/Military Reservist and then in 2008: Assemblyman (because he had retired) and now in 2010: Assemblyman/Military Reservist – pattern?

Or was that Scum-Sucking Politician / Thief?

Finally – he fixed his website in the wake of this LA Times story. This suggests that this story has factual basis and may have been a little more than the usual pimping Barbara Boxer that the La Times is famous for.

It should make you think twice about Chuck DeVore who like Dick Blumenthal has been caught in multiple, colossal lies about his Military service.