Then again…..

Dems red-faced over veteran imposter

Democrats are incensed over how a man duped the party and veterans during the ‘08 campaign.

By Michael Riley

WASHINGTON — Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else.

“His fraud is a slap in the face to veterans everywhere and a betrayal to us all,” Rep. Polis, a Boulder Democrat, said in a written statement Thursday.

“It sounds like this man had a problem telling the truth and needs help,” said Tara Trujillo, a spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.

There is little doubt that Strandlof had a remarkable ability to fool people, something aided by the fact that among his fabrications was his claim that he suffered a severe brain injury, which helped cover behavior that associates now concede was often erratic and strange.

But there were also plenty of signs during much of the time Strandlof was working on behalf of candidates for anyone watching carefully.

CVA wasn’t registered as a political organization until well after the campaigns were over, and then only at the state level despite being active in federal campaigns.

And although he claimed to represent 32,000 veterans — the biggest post- 9/11 vets group in Colorado — Strandlof always showed up at events with the same small number of supporters, and there were few concrete signs he represented more than a close circle he had gathered around him.

“Nobody really fully trusted any of those numbers. . . . He had a few dozen people who were helping him out. He claimed to have a huge mailing list that no one ever saw. The VFW, the American Legion, none of those traditional veterans groups had ever heard of him,” said one prominent veterans activist who worked for Democratic candidates during the campaign and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The veterans community was very protective over him because he had portrayed himself as a wounded veteran. This is someone who claimed spending 18 months undergoing physical rehabilitation after suffering debilitating injuries. . . . You don’t go at somebody like that hard,” the activist said. “Perhaps we learned a good lesson here.” …

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12373595

Don’t you love the way it’s the typical Democrat behavior of being upset at the man, not at their own inability to even do the most rudimentary of background checks to make sure he was who he said he was?

When this type of thing has happened to Republicans before, of course the MSM dragged the GOP through the mud for failing to do background research.

But this time? Why, of course it’s all Strandlof’s fault.

Of course that’s just until they come up with a way to blame this on the “atmosphere of hate” that Bush created, leading this poor mentally ill person to adopt this persona.

Meanwhile, how were his actions and wild non-sensical inflation of numbers and protesting with the same core group of supporters over and over any different from any other liberal group?

Say, Code Pink?

The Post, a hard left paper if there ever was one, actually did a little digging for once:

Representatives for both Udall and Polis said Strandlof didn’t directly work or volunteer for either campaign.

In Udall’s case, Strandlof appeared in an ad paid for by an independent political group that was legally barred from communicating or coordinating with the Democrat’s campaign. (Jon Soltz, head of Votevets.org., said in a statement that his group usually checks the credentials of veterans used in ads but didn’t in this case “because he was already a well-established leader of a veterans group in Colorado.”)

In Polis’ case, the relationship was closer. Strandlof and his group co-hosted what his staff described as “a handful” of events with Polis, including a party highlighting a “Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq” held during the Democratic National Convention.

“There is a lot of hearsay, and Rick Duncan claims he’s best buddies with Jared — which is not true,” said Polis spokeswoman Lara Cottingham. She said Strandlof came to the campaign offering help, and they were glad to have it.

The Polis and Udall campaigns emphasize that Strandlof was a bizarre exception to the outpouring of help they received from veterans disillusioned with Bush-era policies.

“His actions in no way reflect on the credibility of real veterans who supported Mark’s campaign or on the importance of their issues,” said Trujillo, Udall’s spokeswoman.

According to The Associated Press, CVA’s board on Wednesday night decided that the group would disband in the wake of news that Duncan was actually Stradloff.

Let’s see now – an “outpouring of help” from vets disillusioned with Bush’s policies.

So they get to trash Bush again, and once again mention all these vets disillusioned with Bush without having to actually present any. (From what I’ve seen, most vets disillusioned with Bush feel that way because he wouldn’t let them actually fight to win in Iraq, tying their hands will obnoxiously complex and irrational RoE, but I digress.)

Meanwhile the “protest group” disbands when they’re discovered to be a fraud.

Sounds about right.

Yet somehow Swift Boat Veterans for Truth continues to be painted as a fraudlent group itself.

Gotta love the MSM…

(While my vitals were being taken in the emergency room, one of the guards had the audacity to approach me and state, “Thank you for being a veteran.”

Although I specifically requested vegetarian meals, the trays that were handed to me at breakfast, lunch, and dinner did not contain sufficient foodstuffs to qualify as a meal; … I am a reasonably well-balanced individual, and that “I find the universe to be a happy joyous place filled with all kinds of things that make me smile, like sunshine and puppies and rainbows and unicorns and pink bubblegum and dead cops.”

Hopefully, Hillary and Chelsea dodging bullets in Bosnia, and Chelsea’s majical jogging near 9/11 WTC while she sat drinking coffee in front of her tv, will come to his defense.

And isn’t it telling that the Colorado Springs Gazette tries hard to bury the fact that this f*ing punk lunatic was a righteous member of the IVAW? In fact, the two writers’ only mention of this scumbag and the IVAW was at the bottom of this article, placing him by proxy with the IVAW at a bookstore while collecting money for his bogus CVA “organization.”

Obviously, the Gazette was trying to shield the IVAW from yet another embarrassment. How much longer until we have a revolt against these propaganda machines?

Thanks to Steve’s screenshot of the IVAW’s membership roles in Colorado, I now see that this flaming puke was, indeed, a celebrated member of the IVAW.

Truthfully, this should surprise no one. The liberal Left anti-war crowd is permeated with con-artists, grifters, mountebanks, shysters, poseurs, thugs, mugs, pugs and lawyers.
Hell, just look at the current House and Senate leadership and invoke the trickle down theory and voila’, we should expect this further down the socialistic food chain.

In all seriousness, I respect the right of any and all Veterans groups to put forth their political views in the public arena, they have certainly earned that right. Unfortunately, for groups like the IVAW, the VFP and others of their ilk, the existence of a**hats like Strandlof, Mcbeth and many more like them, strains their collective credibility.

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=10593#more-10593
Read this, Kris Goldsmith leaves the IVAW – it is a long letter but well worth the read. He points out very well – exactly how IVAW is a sham and failing the very people they ‘claim’ that they are representing and wanting to help.

For a bunch of wackos who hate despise the military with a passion akin to pro-lifers, Christians, George W. Bush and Rush Limbaugh – they are awfully damn eager to pretend to be one.

So long as you say what they want you to say…your in! :-D

http://www.csindy.com/colorado.....id=1358613