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Dan Proft: Will Obama Get "Swift-boated"?
Urquhart Media, LLC ^ | May 9, 2008 | Dan Proft

Posted on 05/09/2008 8:31:54 AM PDT by JulianaJohnson

While Archimedes-in-a-pantsuit tries to rewrite the laws of mathematics, the rest of the nation has properly begun to weigh the Presidential contest between Sens. McCain and Obama.

Obama has, however, learned a valuable Clinton trick from this protracted primary--how to obliquely reference the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" to misdirect people's attention away from glaring, personal deficiencies.

During his victory speech in North Carolina on Tuesday night Obama said, "We know what's coming...the same names and labels they (Republicans) pin on everyone who doesn't agree with all of their ideas."

Actually, we have some new names and labels thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Obama's own words and ideas, as well as the Senator's cozy relationships with corrupt influence peddlers, domestic terrorists, and a hateful, bile-spewing spiritual advisor.

That right-wing conspiracy shtick--being "Swift-boated"--is going to work out about as well for Obama as it did for Clinton and for the same reason-because it is without merit.

"Swift-boated" has been added to our political lexicon by the Left to lament the alleged unfair attacks to which John Kerry was subjected in the 2004 Presidential race.

And yet, it was John Kerry who made his military service an issue. He sought to use his service to distinguish himself from President Bush and to characterize both Bush and Cheney as reckless chicken-hawks.

It was John Kerry who saluted the nation nearly four years ago and said, "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty." It was John Kerry who brought several of those with whom he had served in Vietnam on stage at the Democrat National Convention to show them off to the country.

On the contrary, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were effective with their anti-Kerry message because it was a substantive one. The facts were on their side. The fact was that Kerry's entire chain of command, every officer under whom Kerry served in Vietnam, questioned his fitness to be Commander-in-Chief. Many Kerry detractors were Democrats but they were also proud and decorated veterans who believed that Kerry had acted dishonorably and that his campaign was being run disingenuously. Theirs was a legitimate perspective for the country to hear.

Similarly, it is Barack Obama who has presented as his core argument that he possesses the superior judgment to be President. That demands a thorough examination of both his personal history and professional record.

The process demands and will extract the same from John McCain.

So as we begin the compare and contrast on the matter of the two men's judgment, at the behest of Obama, consider these two snapshots at a watershed moment in each one's life:

At the same respective points in their lives as grown men in their early 30s, Obama decided to sidle up to Chicago political machine bosses and their financiers and the chichi Hyde Park set of pseudo-intellectual socialists to advance his political career. That earned Obama an appointment to a State Senate seat in 1996.

At a similar age, John McCain made an important decision as well. He decided to forgo his early release from a North Vietnamese POW camp, an offer extended to him because of his father's position in the military. McCain would not walk unless the other POWs who had been captured before him were also released. That earned McCain an additional five years of torture in a Viet Cong prison camp and, for all he knew at the time, was a decision that would cost him his life.

What would you have done if presented with the same offer with which McCain was presented?

What do you think Barack Obama would have done as you have watched him over the last couple of months provide ever-evolving answers and, ultimately, denunciation of his 20-year pastor (only because Rev. Wright wasn't properly concerned about Obama's campaign)?

These snapshots of course do not tell the whole story of either man, but they do tell an important part of the story for each, about the values that have informed their lives.

Call it "Swift-boating" if you want but Obama's ethereal campaign will be done in by his own bad judgments measured against the very standard he has set to define the race for President.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: danproft; obama; swiftboated
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1 posted on 05/09/2008 8:31:55 AM PDT by JulianaJohnson
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To: JulianaJohnson

Do you mean, “Will the truth come out about Obama?”


2 posted on 05/09/2008 8:34:25 AM PDT by Eurale
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To: JulianaJohnson

Obama must be Swift Boated in a smart, effective way. It must show how he is a threat to the survival of our way of life and safety.


3 posted on 05/09/2008 8:35:35 AM PDT by unkus
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To: JulianaJohnson

Only emasculated men vote for the Democratic Party. And any man voting for Obama is an emasculated wuss.


4 posted on 05/09/2008 8:36:04 AM PDT by avacado
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To: JulianaJohnson

Whatever will be done has to be done soon. Today’s Rasmussen has Obama taking a 3% lead over McCain for the first time in a while. The media is helping him greatly.


5 posted on 05/09/2008 8:36:47 AM PDT by Kleebo151
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To: JulianaJohnson

Obama-Jama is still trying very, very hard to convince us that he really isn’t Obama - he’s some other guy.

Even a sub title on a Washington Post editorial yesterday said Mr. Obama’s next step in the campaign is to develop “substance”. This implies there isn’t any, and the Post is way in the tank for Mr. O.

God save us. This man is a communist.


6 posted on 05/09/2008 8:38:42 AM PDT by RexBeach
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To: JulianaJohnson
swiftboat, v. to expose facts about a political candidate's past detrimental to his/her electoral chances, esp. when mischaracterized as slander by the candidate's supporters, applied particularly to exposes of left-leaning candidates in American Presidential politics.
7 posted on 05/09/2008 8:39:38 AM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: All

I like to call it “truthboating”....


8 posted on 05/09/2008 8:39:58 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: unkus

Obama will be swift-boated...by Hillary !!!


9 posted on 05/09/2008 8:40:39 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (Hillary = Senator Incitatus, Clintigula's whore...er, horse.)
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To: JulianaJohnson
Plagiarizing myself from elsewhere:

Obama and his shrew of a wife are headed for a real cold shower in November....

Don’t believe that? Ask John Kerry. He’ll remind Obama how endorsements from America’s enemies (at home and abroad) can really ‘sink your boat’....he he he...

10 posted on 05/09/2008 8:41:49 AM PDT by SMARTY ('At some point you get tired of swatting flies, and you have to go for the manure heap' Gen. LeMay)
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To: unkus

And it needs to begin right now.


11 posted on 05/09/2008 8:41:58 AM PDT by whatshotandwhatsnot
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To: JulianaJohnson

The Hagee problem (more damaging to McCain than Wright is to Obama because McCain actively sucked up to Hagee for his endorsement) makes it impossible for McCain to play that card.


12 posted on 05/09/2008 8:42:25 AM PDT by steve-b (The "intelligent design" hoax is not merely anti-science; it is anti-civilization. --John Derbyshire)
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To: JulianaJohnson

Obama will be “Swift-Toileted”.......


13 posted on 05/09/2008 8:43:12 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: steve-b

Just what is “The Hagee problem “?.........I haven’t heard about it.....


14 posted on 05/09/2008 8:44:12 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Eurale
"Do you mean, “Will the truth come out about Obama?”

EXACTLY!

15 posted on 05/09/2008 8:45:45 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Liberals learning curves are pretty flat,)
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To: steve-b

So, McCain went to Hagee’s church for 20 years? (Um, No.) So, McCain based a book he wrote on Hagee’s words? (Um, No.) So, McCain had Hagee marry he and his wife, and baptize their children? (Um, No.) Pray, tell....”sucked up” is something ALL politicians do...and Obama is a product of the Chicago sucking machine.....so, please, pray tell how Hagee is a problem for McCain?


16 posted on 05/09/2008 8:48:09 AM PDT by goodnesswins (Liberals learning curves are pretty flat,)
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To: JulianaJohnson
On the contrary, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were effective with their anti-Kerry message because it was a substantive one. The facts were on their side. The fact was that Kerry's entire chain of command, every officer under whom Kerry served in Vietnam, questioned his fitness to be Commander-in-Chief. Many Kerry detractors were Democrats but they were also proud and decorated veterans who believed that Kerry had acted dishonorably and that his campaign was being run disingenuously. Theirs was a legitimate perspective for the country to hear.

Precisely. The complete story is available here.

17 posted on 05/09/2008 8:51:22 AM PDT by Interesting Times (Swiftboating, you say? Check out ToSetTheRecordStraight.com)
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To: JulianaJohnson

Swiftboat - verb

To tell politically uncomfortable truths about a Democrat.


18 posted on 05/09/2008 8:51:41 AM PDT by weegee ("I didn't kill innocent people." - Bill Ayers, Weatherman. Terrorist. Obama's comrade.)
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To: Red Badger

If McCain is smart, and that is a big IF, he will hit on Obama’s far left voting record not only in the US Senate but also in the state senate. Of course his US Senate record must be pretty flimsy as he has spent half his term running for president. Anyway, Obama has a really soft on crime record that should make him very vulnerable. This is an indication of the bleeding heart, PC type judges he will appoint. This should be a winning issue for McCain, IF he chooses to use it.


19 posted on 05/09/2008 8:52:49 AM PDT by TNCMAXQ
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To: JulianaJohnson

Millions and millions of Americans are going to vote for Obama, for change, without ever asking what that change will be. Dumbasses all.


20 posted on 05/09/2008 8:52:50 AM PDT by Americanexpat
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