Misplaying the Swift Boat Stuff

HUMAN EVENTS. ^ | 8/29/04 | Chris Field

[Valin]

The whole Swift Boat Veterans for Truth saga has been an amazing thing to behold. This relatively small 527 group spent $500,000 on an ad campaign designed to get out their messages about John Kerry and his versions of Vietnam into the public. As a result, the Democratic Party went into collective conniptions, and the liberal media went into ignore-the-substance mode.

The reactions of the Left have been disgraceful, repulsive, and hypocritical -- not necessarily a surprise coming from the liberal crowd many of us have come to know and love. Instead of refuting the charges made by the veterans, Kerry-supporters, including those in the press, have attacked the messengers, blamed the Bush campaign for the "smear" campaign, and found illegal right-wing Republican connections that never were. (Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't lumped the Carlyle Group and Richard Mellon Scaife into this whole thing by now.) Of course, none of these Democratic operatives, again including the press, have been able to find any connections between the Kerry campaign and the $63 million anti-Bush drive the liberal 527s have been conducting. They looked the other way when the ads by these 527s compared Bush to Hitler, and they questioned the integrity of Bush when these Leftist groups challenged his service in the National Guard.

But what's been the most disheartening for me in this ongoing story is the how poorly the Bush campaign has reacted. Here are the three biggest mistakes make by the Bush camp:

#1: President Bush should never have allowed himself to get involved. When asked his thoughts of the allegations put forth by the Swiftees or if he would denounce their ads, Bush should have responded: "Hey, this isn't my fight at all, and I don't want to be involved. These are John Kerry's fellow Vietnam veterans making these charges, let him answer the questions. He's the only person who can put this thing to rest. That's all I have to say about the matter."

#2: But the Bush campaign didn't stay out of it. Instead, they believed they had pay deference to that paragon of campaign finance virtue, John McCain. President Bush already made the mistake of signing the McCain-Feingold anti-free-speech-campaign-finance-reform bill into law. Now he's decided to compound that mistake by calling for an end to all 527 ads and going so far as to actually seek court action to force the FEC to shut-down all 527 ads. The president's advisors and McCain have apparently told him that trampling over the First Amendment with the original anti-political-speech legislation isn't enough. Now they have to go after groups that are acting fully within the law -- as McCain wrote it and Bush signed it -- and squash their now-limited speech rights.

#3: But what has really steamed me about the way many Republicans, including the President, have responded to the Swift Boat controversy -- characterizing it as something trivial, not a "real issue." I cannot count how many times I have heard Bush-supporters (and Kerry-supporters) say something like: "this controversy is keeping us from talking about the real issues" or "we would like to debate issues that the American public really cares about" or "it's too bad that this has been made such a big issue in the campaign, because we would prefer to talk about issues that really matter."

Note to Republicans: THIS ISSUE REALLY MATTERS!

We're getting down to what John Kerry is really all about: Change your mind, change your story, make up a story, deflect the truth, ignore reality, smear anyone who dares mention truth or reality, grasp every opportunity available to you, call black "white" and white "black," consider utter hypocrisy a virtue, be anti-American if it will make you popular, be pro-American when you need to get votes, do whatever it takes to satisfy your political goals, no matter who you take out, hurt, maim, or disparage in the process.

John Kerry, based on his own testimony and actions, is at least one of two things: a war criminal, which he admitted to in 1971 at the same time that he was accusing all other Vietnam veterans of war crimes; or

a liar to congress, which he was if the war crimes allegations made before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, were false. This whole Swift Boat issue could still bury Kerry. But it's unfortunate that the Bush campaign so horribly misplayed it.

Chris Field is Editor of Human Events Online. He can be contacted at Chris.Field@HumanEventsOnline.com

[TheRightResponse]

THIS WRITER IS ABSOLUTELY 100% RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!

[mondonico]

Karl Rove: are you listening?

[chilepepper]

Yep. Exactly. Bush has recieved some really bad advice, and he is already reaping the rewards... McCain is stabbing him in the back, as expected. Bush should have MINIMUM contact with McCain, or he will get (is already getting) burned.

[Check6]

I'm quite amazed about the Pubbies pretending to want the Swiftees off the map. This disingenuous stance is below the party juxtaposed to the SuperLiar Dims.

The only thing the Pubbies have going for them is the baseline truth about the severity of the Dims Lying Disease. If there are no organizations out there to get the word out, the Pubbies lose their very slim advantage, for their positions on many things that count ... have merged with the Socialist Superliar Dims.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Look, this will be digested by the public much more easily if the SBVT serve it up, rather than the Bush campaign. Bush is taking the high road and trying to soothe another elitist Viet Nam vet who's supposed to be on his side to hopefully prevent him from joining in on the 'Rat smear vendetta.

[don'tbedenied]

I don't think Chris would be very good at poker. the Swifties aren't going away, Bush is limiting backlash while doing nothing to stop the ads. He's getting to have his cake and eat it too, while JF'nK flounders.

[mortal19440]

When will the press talk about the POW and MIA wives being intimidated by VVAW? I think Stolen Honor might get into those stories before the election.

[tkathy]

100% correct analysis. I hope the reps stay out of it entirely from now on.

[Valin]

He's getting to have his cake and eat it too,

Agree. What get's me is people(the left) keep calling him dumb.
It's GOOD to be misunderestimated.

[snooker]

I think you are looking at too narrow a scope. The dims 527s are preparing to dump 10's of millions on negative ads against Bush right after the convention. Their 527 smear machine is preparing to shift into high gear. This is why Bush is attacking the 527s.

The Swifties can easily avoid the trap Bush has set by limiting donations to CFR limits. Most of their donations are under $100, way under the $2000 limit. The dims have fat cats giving their 527 smear machine 10 million at a time.

BTW, why don't we make it a point of referring to the dims 527s as the dims 527 smear machine?

[EdReform]

BTTT

[ctdonath2]

Re. point #3: "Feed 'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves."

[Valin]

The problem is way to many people still get their news from the "mainstream" media(ie 1/2 the story) I keep running into people who say they are sick of these attacks on Kerry by the swiftboat vets. Fortunately it only takes about 5 mins. to set them straight, (character counts)

[kevkrom]

The writer is dead wrong. The Bush campaign get to maintain its distance from the issue, while still getting the benefit from it.

On the other hand, it is possible that the campaign doesn't really want the Swiftee's ads because they are messing up BC04's agenda and/or timing.

[DustyMoment]

. . . Bush is limiting backlash while doing nothing to stop the ads.

Bush has stated that he wants ALL 527s to go away, thus indicating that he doesn't believe that the 1st Amendment extends to those of us who are non-politicians. This is NOT a conservative or Republican value, it is an elitist position more worthy of Kerry, Clinton and the leftists.

Bush would have been wiser to keep his own counsel on this one. He can back away from any association with the Swiftees as he likes, but he (and Rove) should be smart enough to not say anything further. Kerry, in the meantime, has had free reign to say, and do, anything he has wanted about Bush, including challenging his military service. Bush, to his credit, has not played the same game, staying out of the Kerry military controversy and even graciously commending Kerry. In a humorous fit of pique, it is ironic that Kerry has come crying to Bush to try to get the Swiftees to stop the ads. What about that act alone makes him a strong, powerful, independent leader?

To Bush's credit, he is letting Kerry's hypocrisy expose itself for all to see.

Of course, the "progressive" intellectuals in the DNC typically miss that subtle point.

[FlashBack]

I think Ollie North mad a similar comment on H&C a short time back....Either Kerry's a Liar or a War Criminal!!

Pres.Bush taking the high road seems to be the smart path...the news is getting out there and it seems to be working out favorably (and rightly so) for him...in spite of the Lefties attempt to make it have some sort of backlash effect on the President.

[independentmind]

Field is completely wrong about this and Steyn has it right. Maybe that's why Field works for Human Events.