Free Republic

The media’s ability to shape opinion derives from its power to slant the news―the pervasive activism known as “media bias”―and also from its power to choose what is and is not reported. But 2004 marked a watershed in American political history. That was the year the old media lost control of our national conversation.

Via Glenn Reynolds: "In order to Swift Boat John McCain you will need his fellow POWs to come out and say he is bloviating, etc. Swift Boating means someone who was there who knows you are full of hot air is on your tail. Not, I repeat not, what the left wants it to mean. The only way John McCain can be Swift Boated is if someone who was there with him causes McCain's campaign to scramble to answer the allegations. Otherwise, this is desperation by the left who sees their guaranteed win slipping away." It'll get uglier before it's...

It's only dirty pool if you lose. That's the apparent Democratic approach to presidential politics. In 2004, Democrats tried to use film, in the form of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 , to discredit and bring down President Bush in his re-election effort. CBS even got into the fray, using obviously forged documents to try to tarnish Bush's National Guard service. It led to news anchor Dan Rather's retirement. Yet, four years after a group of veterans from Democratic nominee John Kerry's "swift boat" days in Vietnam hit the news media with their concerns about his war record, it was considered...

It's only dirty pool if you lose. That's the apparent Democratic approach to presidential politics. In 2004, Democrats tried to use film, in the form of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 , to discredit and bring down President Bush in his re-election effort. CBS even got into the fray, using obviously forged documents to try to tarnish Bush's National Guard service. It led to news anchor Dan Rather's retirement. Yet, four years after a group of veterans from Democratic nominee John Kerry's "swift boat" days in Vietnam hit the news media with their concerns about his war record, it was considered...

Never Again! Not the Holocaust. We're talking about the MSM's determination not to let Barack Obama be "Swiftboated." In successive segments today, CNN provided a perfect example of the phenomenon. First, a one-sided trashing of Obama Nation, the anti-Barack book by Jerome Corsi, who co-authored Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. In the succeeding segment, anchor Suzanne Malveaux worried out loud to Paul Begala that Barack Obama might not be responding fast enough to attacks against him, thereby "falling into the same trap as John Kerry." Introducing the first segment, Situation Room anchor Malveaux didn't...

The political hunting season for presidential candidates has arrived early, and already it features a new level of mudslinging and cage-match attacks. A new GOP Web site, meetbarackobama.com, has a daily "Audacity Watch" on Democratic candidate Barack Obama - including a takeoff on a Facebook page ( www.barackbook.com) that features Obama "friends" like Tony Rezko, the Chicago fundraiser who was convicted of fraud, and William Ayres, a founder of the 1960s violent radical group the Weathermen. The Democrats this week launched the Exxon/McCain '08 campaign, complete with Web site, bumper stickers and slogans ("Oil Companies First"). They also created thenextdickcheney.com...

Re: "swiftboating" From StreetInsider.com, July 3, 2008: "The 'Swiftboating' slogan is used by leftist politicians and members of the old media to smear the Swift Vets and other anti-Kerry veterans as liars. The truth is that they were effective because they supported their charges with evidence. A second goal of this tactic is to preempt any criticism of Sen. Obama and the other Democrats they are trying to elect - however accurate and relevant such criticism may be," said Scott Swett, the primary author of To Set the Record Straight. Source: Authors of New Book on Swift Boat Veterans for...

The New York Times published an article Monday about the anger some Vietnam veterans feel over the vessel they used to serve on, Swift Boat, now being synonymous with "the nastiest of campaign smears." In dredging up this issue, Times' writer Kate Zernike not only misrepresented many of the facts surrounding the claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but also completely ignored the mainstream media's role in turning the name of this patrol craft into a political pejorative. In fact, something the Times conveniently chose not to share with its readers was how one of its own...

The Republican party's attempts to portray Obama as arrogant could hurt him in the election. Presidential races generally hinge on character issues - as Republicans understand. That's why, the last two times out, the GOP has won the White House by hammering into voters' minds the idea that the Democratic candidate embodies a particular negative quality. In 2000, Al Gore was depicted (with the help of a lazy and compliant press corps) as a serial exaggerator. Four years later, John Kerry was portrayed as a weak-willed flip-flopper. Ultimately, it was these personal caricatures, far more than any specific policy prescriptions,...

Correction Appended Years ago, when William Miller talked about being in the Vietnam War — if he talked about being in the Vietnam War — he would tell people he served on a Swift boat. At least now they have heard of it. But not in the way he would like. “I was proud of what I did, and all the guys I was with,” Mr. Miller said. “Now somebody says ‘Swift boat’ and it’s a whole different meaning. They don’t associate it with the guys we lost. That’s a shame.” “Swift boat” has become the synonym for the nastiest...

It's common to see mentions in the press these days about some "swiftboating" of Barack Obama that is allegedly in the works, or might someday allegedly be in the works, or might someday be thought to be allegedly in the works. While I'm sure there will be some hit jobs on Obama — this is a presidential campaign, after all — this talk seems to be based on a fundamental misunderstanding, perhaps willful in some cases, of the swiftboat episode in the 2004 campaign. The swiftboat veterans in that year were the officers who served alongside John Kerry in Vietnam....

Short Pants’ Short Memory 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...

John McCain and Barack Obama are about to face a moral choice. It will probably be made in bits and pieces over the next five months, but we can imagine it as a single dramatic incident: the adviser approaches and says, "Yes or no. Do you want to swift-boat?" If you were the presidential candidate, what answer would you give? 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...

Barack Obama supporter accuses Jewish lobby members of McCarthyism By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 1:04PM BST 27/05/2008A foreign policy expert consulted by Senator Barack Obama, the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, has accused members of the American Jewish establishment of "McCarthyism" in its attitude towards critics of Israel. Mr Brzezinski has been accused of being 'anti-Israel' by some Jewish academics, writers and bloggers Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, said that the pro-Israel lobby in the US was too powerful, while the slur of anti-Semitism was too readily used whenever its power was called into...

While Senator Clinton tries to prove that in counting delegates, 1 + 1 doesn’t equal 2, the rest of us are already weighing the choice between Sens. John McCain and Barack 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...

I want . . Freedom of the press to be the right not to be lied to. You are confused. So very seriously confused about the First Amendment, that you are not thinking any more clearly about it than I was before the mid-1990s, when I began to see through the system by which the "journalistic objectivity" con is perpetrated. And since I was already in my fifties by then, I have every reason to understand how you might see things the way you do. Freedom of the press is much more like "the right to lie to you"...

To the question of the moment--What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it?--I answer, Obama knew everything, and he's known it for ages. Far from succumbing to surprise and shock after Jeremiah Wright's disastrous performance at the National Press Club, Barack Obama must have long been aware of his pastor's political radicalism. A careful reading of nearly a year's worth of Trumpet Newsmagazine, Wright's glossy national "lifestyle magazine for the socially conscious," makes it next to impossible to conclude otherwise. Wright founded Trumpet Newsmagazine in 1982 as a "church newspaper"--primarily for his own congregation, one gathers--to "preach...

SDS General Educational Development by: Cliff Kincaid, May 06, 2008 Tom Hayden, who cheered for a communist military victory in Vietnam, is calling attention to Senator Hillary Clinton’s old ties to communists. But Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, formerly of the Washington Post, wonders if Hillary’s comments on Senator Barack Obama’s ties to communist terrorist Bill Ayers constitute McCarthyism. Bernstein, now an election analyst for CNN, has reason to be concerned about where all of this may lead. His parents were members of the Communist Party USA, and he says in his book about them, Loyalties, “I am proud of the...

By Christopher CookThe National Campaign Fund has produced a devastating campaign ad exposing Barack Obama's weakness on matters of crime, and positing questions about his potential conduct in waging the War on Terror. The ad can be viewed at the site ExposeObama.com.After you've watched it, check out these headlines, culled from a single day of reporting on the ad: How Republicans Plan on Ganging Up on Obama for Being "Weak" on Street Gangs Obama Gets the Willie Horton Treatment Breaking... Obama "Swiftboating" Plan Revealed Conservatives rolling out attack ads aimed at Obama, supporters Willie Horton Mastermind Takes Aim at Obama...

If the words "swift" and "boat" must be combined and turned into a verb, then let us insist on its proper use. The word as a verb originates from the campaign undertaken in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans in response to the John Kerry presidential candidacy. The word means, or should mean, the exposure of a fraudulent autobiography of one seeking political office or public influence. It is the correction of a personal and professional record that has been selectively and dishonestly compiled, as the Swift Vets did so effectively to that of John Kerry. Although swiftboating may be...

April 20, 2008 Redefining 'Swiftboating' and Rewriting History By Henry P. Wickham, Jr. If the words "swift" and "boat" must be combined and turned into a verb, then let us insist on its proper use. The word as a verb originates from the campaign undertaken in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans in response to the John Kerry presidential candidacy. The word means, or should mean, the exposure of a fraudulent autobiography of one seeking political office or public influence. It is the correction of a personal and professional record that has been selectively and dishonestly compiled, as the Swift...

The days of Swift Boating are numbered Friday, April 18, 2008 12:25 PM EDT While the Democrats continue to gnaw at each other for the party’s nomination, there are signs, indications even, that some of the recent methods of electoral success in the past are fading as effective tools. Most notably, “Swift Boating,” may finally be on its way to becoming a historical footnote. Swift Boating describes the effective use on well funded false charges against th

HILLARY: SWIFTBOATED!March 26, 2008 Hillary is being "swiftboated"! She claimed that she came under sniper fire when she visited in Bosnia in 1996, but was contradicted by videotape showing her sauntering off the plane and stopping on the tarmac to listen to a little girl read her a poem. Similarly, John Kerry's claim to heroism in Vietnam was contradicted by 264 Swift Boat Veterans who served with him. His claim to having been on a secret mission to Cambodia for President Nixon on Christmas 1968 was contradicted not only by all of his commanders -- who said he would have...

He's a Muslim. He was sworn into office on the Koran. He doesn't say the Pledge of Allegiance. His pastor is an anti-Semite. He's a tool of Louis Farrakhan. He's anti-Israel. His advisers are anti-Israel. He's friends with terrorists. The terrorists want him to win. He's the Antichrist. By now you've probably seen at least some of these e-mails and articles about Barack Obama bouncing around the Internet. They distort Obama's religious faith, question his support for Israel, warp the identity and positions of his campaign advisers and defame his friends and allies from Chicago. The purpose of the smear...

A photo showing Barack Obama dressed in Somali garb is being circulated by campaign staffers working for Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to DrudgeReport.com. FOX News is working to confirm the report. The photo was taken in 2006 during a trip through Africa. Obama was dressed as a Somali elder during a visit to southwestern Kenya, said the Drudge Report, which said a Clinton staff member had provided the photo to the Web site.

In MSM circles, "swiftboating" is shorthand for false attacks on Democrats, even though John O'Neill and other members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth stand adamantly behind their allegations about John Kerry's war record. In an interview of Barack Obama conducted yesterday and aired on this morning's Today, Matt Lauer employed the "swiftboating" code to ask whether the candidate is prepared for the Republican onslaught. For good measure the NBC anchor wondered if Obama is ready for Republican racism. Lauer, introducing the issue, stated that "Senator Clinton has questioned whether he can withstand negative attacks from Republicans in the fall."...

If John Kerry had been elected President of the United States in November 2004, especially with the incoming majority Democrat Congress, it is highly likely that Iraq would be in the midst of a civil war, Iran’s regional influence would have increased, Israel would be in more jeopardy than it is now, two Supreme Court seats would be occupied by clones of John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of by John Roberts and Samuel Alito, judicial decisions would have given even more “rights” to enemy combatants, domestic entitlements and earmarks would have skyrocketed, the Bush tax cuts would be...

Swiftboating 2.0 TRIBUNE-REVIEW by Salena Zito January 22, 2008 8 :50 PM An email attributed to Sen. John Kerry, the former 2004 Democratic presidential nominee sent out by the Barack Obama campaign, took on those that would 'swiftboat' Obama. Kerry, saying in the email that "this is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election," tells Obama supporters that "we must stop the swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears. "The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be...

WASHINGTON -- In an effort reminiscent of the bitter "Swift Boat" campaign during the 2004 presidential race, a group of New York firefighters who lost sons in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks is organizing a political committee to take on former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in Republican primary states. A leader of the 9/11 Firefighters and Families group met Tuesday with union leaders and political consultants, readying plans to set up a tax-exempt committee that would fund appearances and a media drive against Giuliani. Jim Riches, a New York deputy fire chief whose firefighter son was killed during...

FReeper Scott Swett will join Loud & Clear (Central Jersey 1450 AM WCTC) to discuss his new book, "To Set The Record Straight" today (Saturday, December 15th). Mr. Swett will be the guest of Keith Rasmussen and Maggie Glynn who host Loud & Clear on Central Jersey 1450 - 1 pm to 4 pm Eastern. He will join Loud & Clear at 3:30 pm (Eastern). Scott Swett created and managed the web sites SwiftVets.com and WinterSoldier.com during the 2004 campaign, working closely with Swift boat veterans, former POWs and other Vietnam veterans to help bring their experiences to the public....

Former president Bill Clinton denounced the media for what he labeled “their invasive, intrusive, and impolite harassment of his wife.” He was referring, he said, to the spate of questions raised following Hillary’s difficulty in the Democratic debate last week. “Candidates shouldn’t have to answer complicated questions and be expected to take definite policy positions prior to taking office,” Clinton asserted. “This could impede their flexibility once they are elected.” Clinton contended that this “loss of the element of surprise will make the nation more vulnerable to its enemies—both foreign and domestic.” “By taking a multi-faceted perspective on the issues,...

November 08, 2007 Re-sinking John Kerry Russ Vaughn When I saw this report that John Kerry is finally ready to take on the Swift Boat Veterans, my muse could not be held in check: Re-sinking John Kerry From Davy Jones' locker a zombie emerges, A Purple Heart phony with political urges; Assuring the press he regrets his Swift boating, John Kerry believes his boat is still floating. He readily admits that he got torpedoed, But he's up on his sail board, defiant and Speedo'd. The arrogant fool believes his wife's riches Is enough to trump all of us Swift sons-of-bitches....

RANDOLPH -- John Kerry said Monday there might be a next time for his presidential aspirations, and if there is, the 63-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts says he’ll be ready for the political torpedoes that helped sink his 2004 White House bid. Kerry, whose service as a U.S. Navy Swift boat skipper during the Vietnam War came under attack in his race against President Bush, said he has compiled a dossier on his war record critics that he wishes he had as the Democratic presidential nominee. ``We have put together a documented portfolio that frankly puts their lies in such...

E mail from a cat ? A smug,progressive cat at that ! My correspondent was furious because the Washington Post outed John Murtha.

Don't look for Arianna Huffington to be sitting down to a chummy luncheon with Hillary Clinton anytime soon. Huffington has been no fan of Clinton for some time, considering her insufficiently, and inauthentically, anti-war. But on today's "Morning Joe," Huffington took her animus to another level, accusing Hillary of an ultimate Dem sin: "swiftboating" an opponent, namely Barack Obama. HUFFINGTON POST FOUNDER ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: After the CNN debate, I think it was ridiculous the way she and her campaign attacked Obama for saying he would engage in diplomatic talks with dictators. That is sort of a classic example of swiftboating...

The primary donor of an independent group that raised questions about Senator John F. Kerry during the 2004 presidential election has signed on to raise money for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's GOP presidential campaign. Bob Perry, a Houston home builder, is named as a member of Romney's Texas Leadership Team in an invitation for a fund-raising event in Dallas on March 26. Perry has earned a reputation for his willingness to finance the political activities of "527 groups," nonprofit organizations named after the federal tax code that applies to them. He gained notoriety for the $4.5 million he donated...

Yesterday FReeper Dark Skies posted an editorial by Andy Martin from Political Gateway with the following lead comment: “Swift boating" is a term that came into use during the 2004 presidential election to reflect Senator John Kerry’s flaccid response to attacks on his wartime record in Viet-Nam. The term, a noun, adjective and verb, has entered the political lexicon and is usually invoked when liberals and Democrats are stung trying to defend themselves against unpleasantly truthful accusations hurled by conservatives. I took exception to that definitiion and emailed my objection to Mr. Martin as follows: "Swift boating” is a term...

October 18, 2006 A hat tip of thanks to my friend Jeremiah at Jeremayakovka for forwarding me an email from Wesley Clark’s WESPAC-Securing America. In an article titled Fight Back Against Swift boating, we read Wes Clark’s opening salvo of “I live by a simple rule. If you wore the uniform, if you served your nation with honor, and especially if you fought and were wounded in battle, then you have earned the right to be treated with respect.” Neither I nor any Red Blooded American can argue with these words. However, since it appears Wes Clark has taken a...

There they go again. No sooner had Keith Ellison been declared the winner in the DFL primary and Minneapolis' likely next member of Congress than Republicans launched a smear campaign intended not only to smudge Ellison but, by association, every Democrat on the DFL ticket. Here are some of the words, delivered with ample emotion, that came from the mouth of Ellison's Republican opponent, words unlikely to have originated in Alan Fine's heart but more likely crafted by some young Beltway piranha typing away on behalf of Karl Rove's dark national machine:

1. swiftboating 16 thumbs up The act of exposing the exagerated or inflated claims of a person seeking to promote themselves into a position of authority. He would have gotten away with his outrageous lies if not for the swiftboating he received at the hand of his classmates.tags outing exposing uncovering revealing deflating by Bobby Farrelly Bakersfield, California, USA Aug 24, 2006 2. swiftboating 9 up, 30 down The process of smearing a military veteran's service record for political purposes. Named after the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, who discredited John Kerry's war record during the 2004 U.S. presidential election.He...

Berlin: When a package started making a ticking sound in a busy post office,all hands were evacuated while the brave officers of the Bomb Squad did their job. The package turned out to contain something called an “electronic nappy”-designed to monitor baby’s diaper for wetness, and to emit a “beeping” sound – (instead of a sinister ticking noise)- when it is time for a change. Hmmm… What’s next ? An octopus-armed “Robo-Nanny” ? (Oh ! They already have one : It’s called a “Mom”.) Salt Lake City : A local woman was pulling into her two-car garage when she saw...