A former Marine who served in the reserves, Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, admitted to “misstating” details about his service record, regretted doing so and openly accepted responsibility at this afternoon’s press conference. The two points I would like to explore are:
1) Is “misstating” information the same as a lying?
2) Is “regretting doing so” different from apologizing?
Is “misstating” information the same as a lie?
Let’s start by defining a lie. Especially in the myopic world of politics, what constitutes as a lie? For this I will look to the four characteristics of a lie defined by Harvard philosopher, Sissela Bok. A lie must possess the following four prerequisites to, in fact, be a lie:
1) An affirmative statement
2) The affirmative statement must be false
3) The statement must be known to be false by the speaker or author
4) The speaker or author issues the statement with the intent of deceiving the audience
According to Sissela Bok mistruths, omissions and true statements intended to deceive are not actual lies.
The current issue
Attorney General Blumenthal said earlier that he served in Vietnam. In reality, he was serving during Vietnam, but not within the proximity of the conflict. Much of the fuss is circumventing the issue of AG Blumenthal not correcting this immediately after to set the record straight. Blumenthal’s defense today was that he speaks at many events and venues and never caught the wrong verbiage. Blumenthal said today that the issue was recently brought to his attention and the purpose of this press convergence is to address the issue and to nullify an attack on him, which attempts to fault him over the phrase “In Vietnam” rather than “During Vietnam.” I don’t think we aren’t going to see this situation resolved anytime soon.
Is “regretting doing so” different from apologizing?
Yes. “I regret” does not in any way mean or add up to “I apologize,” just as “I’m sorry if XYZ offended you” does not mean “I’m sorry I offended you and I apologize.”
During this afternoon’s press conference, AG Blumenthal said, “I regret misspeaking and I take full responsibility.” A journalist commented later by saying, “That’s not the same as apologizing. Do you apologize?” The marines behind Blumenthal then jumped in by repeatedly shouting “No,” not even letting Blumenthal respond. Blumenthal proceeded to smile and take the next question.
In this situation AG Blumenthal is not saying, “I apologize” because it will hurt his case. He is not saying the phrase because by doing so he will admit fault. From what Blumenthal said this afternoon, I can gather that he does not believe he did anything wrong. Speculating further from what I gathered, AG Blumenthal thinks this situation is blown up, twisted out of context and he is striking back at those who are attempting to spin this out-of-context phrase to their political advantage. As a caveat, AG Blumenthal added, “Sometimes journalists make mistakes.”
WTNH streamed the press conference and is covering the Blumenthal story updates.
What are your opinions of AG Blumenthal’s situation? Do you have any further feedback on the issues of misstating vs. lying and regretting vs. apologizing?
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