The Perfect Dem Role Model

[rushmc 23]

OK, I am joking

Kind of.....

Quote

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
The Denver Post
Posted: 05/15/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 05/16/2009 04:25:01 PM MDT


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."

Republicans say the candidates Strandlof supported are either disingenuous or incompetent.

"I think they owe the people in Colorado an apology," said Dick Wadhams, the state GOP chairman. "Somebody who took that kind of prominence in the campaign should have been vetted by the Democrats. Even if they have no idea he was a fraud, I think they bear heavy responsibility."

Strandlof did manage to fool at least one Republican.

Strandlof was on the veterans advisory board for Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs in 2007, and he resigned, saying he didn't support the Republican administration's stance on the war.

And Wadhams, who directed Schaffer's campaign, said that Republicans missed a chance as well to uncover Strandlof, conceding that if his fraud had been revealed during the campaign, it would have "severely hurt Udall and other Democrats."

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 Strandlof.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[warpedskydiver 0]

I hereby offer to make him a disabled person.

At least he can then be half truthful.

These political hacks who perpetuate such things and claim to be Veterans and even worse disabled Veterans, need to suffer, so they can rethink what it is they have done.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Remember how people just worshiped every word out of Jesse McBride's mouth?

Some of them were right here in this forum.

[skybill 22]

Hi rush,
Hooboy!!! This cat is nothing new! Go to www.pownetwork.org and check out the phonies & wannabies page! These characters are a dime a dozen. They put on military uniforms, ribbons, medals and all, go to civic events, present themselves as highly decorated vets and SNOW EVERYBODY!! except Chuck and Mary Shantag! The list is L-O-N-G!! They usually get busted by their lack of attention to detail eg order of ribbons and other insignia and stories of events that they were suppose to be in but were not!! "No shit, you were in the 695th on that mission.. funny I don't remember you there??" by someone who WAS!! "You're Busted!!" Had a guy here at Raeford, claimed he was a LCDR UDT Seals 18 yrs and resigned no bennies or retirement because of some mission he didn't dig. Seal team 1 eh?? This former Air Force rigger used to rig chutes for Team 1 and asked the guys at Team 1 if they knew this character?? Who?? They referred her to Chuck and Mary and WOW!! The dude hasn't shown his face at Raeford since. Oh BTW He claimes he's really not the person we investigated as this was his cover given him by the CIA or whoever to "protect" his real persona because of all the clandestined work he did!!!! R-I-G-H-T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[rushmc 23]

You are right. It is long on both sides

I just felt like tweeking the left a littly.

Anyone who does this, on either side. is an ass

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

anybody doing this is a dip shit.

Vets are too damned import IMO

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[1969912 0]

Probably saved countless lives when working on a Swift Boat as well.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[warpedskydiver 0]

In my town we had a prominent Doctor that claimed to have been awarded the CMH.

We also had a Judge do the same thing.

both were phonies and when it came time, nothing was done about it.

The local government let them slide.



My dad once encountered a guy who claimed to be a Korean war hero.

My Dad talked to him and asked him why he went around telling people what he did in the war.

He told my Dad that he would not understand because he(my father) must have been a draft dodger or a POGUE.

It took several guys pleading to get my Dad to stop beating the posers head on the parking lot.

When all was over we found out that the guy claiming to be a hero was in prison during the Korean war for raping a eight year old girl.

That is why people were believing his bullshit story, because he had done this in another state, and he used this story to cover his real absence.


I think he should have been executed.

[StreetScooby 5]

We are all engines of karma

[StreetScooby 5]

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Vets are too damned import IMO

+1

We are all engines of karma