Swiftboat THIS

Swift-boat THIS.
by Steve Finefrock

Michael Kinsley is wearing his intellectual short pants again, in his essay on Swiftboating. Wishing upon wishes for a ‘clean’ campaign of purity, he asserts, “Swift-boat is shorthand for the brilliant, despicable Republican campaign strategy in 2004 that turned John Kerry's honorable service in Vietnam into a negative factor in his campaign. The phrase has become more broadly the term for a particular category of campaign tactics and has even become a verb. To ‘swift-boat’ somebody is to use these tactics against him or her.”

Kinsley is not stupid, nor ignorant, but plainly very conveniently ‘forgetful’ of much history in his lifetime, never mind that of the DNC and its minions earlier in the century, before Kinsley’s mind was even a glimmer in his parents youthful eyes. Swiftboating began in January of 1929, nine gestative months before the Black Tuesday stockmarket crash foreshadowed the Great Depression, and the swiftboating by historians and journalists of Herbert Clark Hoover.

Kinsley’s claims, and definitions, go further: “Swift-boating's essence is a particular kind of dishonesty, or rather a particular combination of shadowy dishonesties. It usually involves a complex web of facts, many of which may even be true. It exploits its own complexity and the reluctance of the media to adjudicate factual disputes. No matter how thoroughly a charge may be discredited, enough taint remains to support an argument. The fundamental dishonesty is the suggestion that the issue, whatever it is, really matters. This is how swift-boating differs from its cousin McCarthyism, which deals in totally baseless charges that would be deeply serious if true. Swift-boating is McCarthyism lite...

I didn’t think the Swiftboat Vets were a Republican group...

Actually the founder of the Swift Boat was John Oneill. He is a Houston lawyer and a Democrat. He is also a loyal American Patriot.

John Kerry could have shut down the Swift Boat campaign in one day if he would have released his military records. If what the Swift Boat people saying was a lie, John Kerry's military record would have destroyed them. John Kerry did not and still has not released his military records. President Bush did. Why will Kerry not release his records?????????

It usually involves a complex web of facts, many of which may even be true. It exploits its own complexity and the reluctance of the media to adjudicate factual disputes. No matter how thoroughly a charge may be discredited, enough taint remains to support an argument.

Some of the facts may be true? Huh? All facts are true. And since when is the media reluctant to adjudicate factual disputes? Kinsley is engaging in what he calls "swiftboating", applying it to the Swiftboats Veterans for Truth which undermined the slimy, lying, treasonous approach of John Kerry, a nasty liar who should have been hanged.

Kinsley, as does all other leftist twits, also ignores totally that none of the Swifties charges and allegations were ever proven false. Even Kerry and his minions had to back off of some claims (Christmas in Cambodia for one) and admit they were “embellished.”

The fear expressed from the left over these brave combat tested Veterans grassroots effort and possibility of regrouping shows just how effective they were in opposing the left’s Bolshevik propaganda machine.

Incidentally, the GOP had nothing to do with guys. Pro-Bush comments were not permitted and as one who had the privilege of being on the Discussion Forum Admin team, they were removed as fast as they were discovered with cautions of pro-Bush posts were not allowed, much to the dismay of many posters.

If none have read it, Scott Swett’s “To Set The Record Straight” is an excellent read and look behind the scenes of their effort.

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