May 15, 2009 10:43 PM UTC

Wadhams Grotesquely Overreaches, "Phony Soldiers" Redux?

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• by: Colorado Pols

You’ve been reading about the scandal surrounding an apparently impostor Marine who managed to insert himself into a number of campaign-related events last year, mostly (but not exclusively, we’ll get to that) on behalf of Democrats.

There’s no question that the impostor in question, one Rick Strandlof, enormously embarrassed anyone who was conned by him–though he by all reports never actually worked for any Colorado campaign last year, he did volunteer to host receptions for candidates, and appeared in a 527 TV spot targeted at the Senate race.

Whatever the facts of this scandal ultimately shake out to be, we’ve seen nothing to indicate that anyone else, particularly other veterans associated with the organization Strandlof ran, were similarly misrepresenting themselves. We’ll invite correction on this point, but isn’t that true? Just one singular fraudster who duped his fellow veterans as much as anyone?

Unfortunately, those details don’t appear to have reached GOP chairman Dick Wadhams in time to prevent an at least equal embarrassment–as Colorado Springs’ KOAA-TV reports:

Shaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams called on VoteVets.org to apologize to the people of Colorado saying, “I think it’s appalling that Mark Udall and other Colorado Democrats would use a fake veteran either willfully or very carelessly to attack Republicans in 2008. ”

Wadhams called the ads “shameless lies” that were “as credible as their fake veterans [Pols emphasis] that they trotted out.”

Tara Trujillo, the communications director for Senator Mark Udall said it was disappointing to see Republicans “play political games and take advantage of this type of situation. ”

“I think for Republicans to generalize the actions of this man to all veterans who worked on Democratic campaigns is just wrong and they should apologize,” Trujillo said…

Got that? “Fake veterans.” Plural, folks. Apparently it doesn’t matter to Wadhams that Mark Udall didn’t–couldn’t by law–have anything to do with the VoteVets ad, any more than Wadhams should take responsibility for all the 527 ads he claimed to have nothing to do with during the 2008 campaign. Never mind that Strandlof, according to the Denver Post, served on the military advisory board of Rep. Doug Lamborn, arch-est of Colorado arch-Republicans.

And, unbelievably, never mind that there was…only one “fake veteran.”

As for those real veterans? You know, the ones whose real service Wadhams casually denigrated, to score cheap political points, on the wrong target, fully a year and a half from the next election? Heck, Wadhams even looks a little like Rush Limbaugh. Obviously, screw ’em.