The definition of "swift boating"

politicalgateway.com ^ | 1/25/2007 | Andy Martin

[Lee'sGhost]

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 that is used to describe a concerted effort to get the truth out about a political candidate. You are confusing the public by defining it incorrectly. Please issue a correction.

Thank you.

Mr. Martin replied:

I am afraid your definition is not correct. I disagree. The left gave "swift boating" an odious connotation and that odor has persisted to the present day. You can't wish that your definition would prevail when it hasn't.

My response was:

I can assure you that within conservative circles swift boating is the definition I provided. YOU are allowing the left to usurp that definition. Perhaps a demonstration is in order.

Thank you."

[BuffaloJack]

Nam Vet,
As a brother swifty I agree with you.
Jack

[Don Corleone]

We are dealing with a bunch of non commitals who stand for whatever is popular at the given moment. Fence riders. Wind direction testers. Doublespeak distractors.

In short....."Mugwumps".

[Lee'sGhost]

Thanks, Nam.

[Lee'sGhost]

I went back and re-read Martin's statement and figured out the mistake some of you made. Probably my fault for taking Martin out of context, but here it is.

Re-read this sentence more closely.
"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."

Martin is saying that liberals and Dims invoke the term "swift boating" to put down conservatives. Martin is acknowledging that libs use it to defend themselves against truthful accusations, but they are using it as a put down.

Makes a BIG difference. Let me rewrite it so that it reads as Martin intended.

"The term, a noun, adjective and verb, has entered the political lexicon and is usually invoked [as an insult by liberals and democrats] when liberals and Democrats are stung trying to defend themselves against unpleasantly truthful accusations hurled [against them] by conservatives. [As in, "this is just another attempt by conservatives to swift boat our candidate.]"

See the difference?

[weegee]

Swiftboating is a pejorative. Much like my own term "Zogbyism" that I use to criticize the media when they falsify the news. Yellow journalism is what it is. Zogby biased the election day polls and used them to try to sway the 2000 election by depressing the conservative base.

Dan Rather, reporting a story that was coordinated between the DNC and CBS News, stuck by "fake but accurate" forged documents.

THESE incidents NEVER get mentioned by leftist critics of the Swift Boat Veterans. Hell, even Joseph McCarthy was right about there being Communists in government and in Hollywood.

He is damned because of his "list" but the Left has similarly bragged of non-existent lists in their hands in recent years.

The left has also taken the term "Chicken Hawk", a term for a gay man who likes young flesh, and used it to paint a negative perception of those who support the war. They know what this term has meant for decades.

Don't play the leftist word games. And for the record, it is the Democrat party, not the Democratic party. Socialist if we are being honest.

[Lee'sGhost]

You strike at the nerve of my point. With "swift boating" the dims/libs are trying to dictate the terminology. Martin is reinforcing their objective. I am trying to get conservatives to see that and fight it.

I like Zogbyism!

[RobRoy]

I've actually used the phrase "Swift boat" as describing what I think we should do to a less than honorable candidate.

We should "swift boat" Hillary on the FBI files.

[HonestConservative]

Swift boating: NOT grounding your boat on the beach in order to chase one man down and then shoot him in the back.

[Lee'sGhost]

As have I. Whenever I hear a lib use the term, knowing that they are trying to be derogative, I interject, "What's wrong with trying to get the truth out?"

Boy they hate that.

[lepton]

decorations earned in less than 30-days in-country.

He was in-country for several months. The (22 days?) were from the time he received his first medal until he left the country. He spent much of his time previous to that in training, and I'm not sure of the time between when the cited event date was and his receipt of the first medal was.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Four medals in four months. Seems reasonable to me.

</sarcasm>

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Swift boating is telling truths about Democrats that make them uncomfortable.

"Swiftboating" - it should be considered a single word in this context - is a manufactured word most analogous to "McCarthyism."

If you read Treason by Ann Coulter, you know that Senator Joseph McCarthy was far more sinned against than sinning. Basically he was railroaded by Big Journalism. Think about it: the outcry against "McCarthyism" was an outcry against putative censorship. If you were to research through the pages of the newspapers of the time you would have no trouble at all finding charges that Senator McCarthy was stifling free speech.

And that is the best possible proof that no such thing was being accomplished by Senator McCarthy. If you were to research the archives of Iraqi newspapers under Saddam, you may be sure that there would be no articles charging that Saddam was censoring newspapers. Why? Because he was censoring the newspapers, and if you were an Iraqi and publicly criticized Saddam in any way your life was forfeit. So (although I don't read Arabic and have never even seen an Iraqi newspaper) I am quite confident there was essentially no overt indication that Saddam was censoring anybody. Because that would have implied that somebody might have wanted to criticize Saddam.

So "McCarthyism" is a word which journalists synthesized to insult Joseph McCarthy and suppress support for anticommunists. Neither more nor less. Likewise "Swiftboating" is a word which journalists synthesized to insult the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" and, having sullied their reputation, to suppress criticism of Democrats by tarring critics with the brush of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" organization.

"McCarthyism" and "swiftboating" are Newspeak words, purpose-built by journalists to suppress criticism of positions which journalists favor. Absent the journalists' motive in using them, neither word would ever have gained any currency whatever.

[OESY]

“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 have both an objection and support for Mr. Martin's definition. In my observation, the term "swift boating" is used almost exclusively by Democratic supporters of Kerry, but not to reflect Kerry's "flaccid response." Rather it is used to portray Kerry as a victim of foul play. See definitions offered by Urban Dictionary below.

However, Mr. Martin allows that the accusations are "unpleasantly truthful" and the connotation is "odious." As such, Mr. Martin deserves credit for not subscribing entirely to the definitions current on the not-very-swift liberal street.

Urban dictionary:

Swift boating 75 up, 44 down

The act of discrediting a political opponent by making exaggurated (sic) or outrightly false claims about his/her character and past actions.

Coined from the 2004 US Presidential campaign, where the the conservative group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth aired a commercial criticizing democrat (sic) John Kerry's reputation as a war hero in Vietnam. It has since become a popular term with leftist journalists.

Jed: Sylva says she's against the war, but she has no idea about how much it protects our country. It's not like she actually earned her PhD (sic) in political science - her daddy has influence at that college.
Alex: Dude, stop swift boating my girlfriend!

Also:

1. Swiftboated 242 up, 80 down

To be smeared by the president or his administration in a tastless (sic) and slanderous way.

They're gonna totally swiftboat this soldier's mom the way they did kerry (sic).

2. Swiftboated 233 up, 75 down

To be unfairly and inaccurately attacked relentlessly in the media

They swiftboated the Gold Star mom on the news by questioning her credibility when she refused to back off with her antiwar protest in the presidents (sic) back yard.

3. Swiftboated 12 up, 34 down

Exposure of a false hero by people who are fimiliar (sic) with claimed heroic acts

John claimed to have saved a life in the local tragic fire. However, after noting that John was aat (sic) the time, actually in a bar 20 miles away by the bartender, John was Swiftboated by several other people the entire week following the fictitious claim.

4. Swiftboated 63 up, 204 down

To be outed a hypocritical liar.

Thank God Kerry was swiftboated before he got elected President.

Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swiftboated

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[geopyg]

"nattering nabobs of negativity"

[Lee'sGhost]

"As such, Mr. Martin deserves credit for not subscribing entirely to the definitions current on the not-very-swift liberal street."

Nope. You got that part wrong. A lot of people did. Read my post #64.

[OESY]

Your comments are perceptive, but not quite adequate. My fault. I should have assisted by giving my definition, explanatory notes and an example of the term "swift-boating":

Definition: The term "swift-boating" has entered the political lexicon as a noun, adjective or verb and is usually invoked as a pejorative construction by Kerry supporters to indicate that Kerry was treated unfairly when unpleasant but truthful accusations were raised.

Explanatory notes: Such accusations by genuine war heroes and former POWs undercut Kerry's claim to Vietnam hero status. They exposed how Kerry had manipulated the Navy's system to award himself three Purple Hearts in order to limit his service in a combat zone to four months. Democratic apologists blame disingenuously Kerry's flaccid and untimely response to the accusations with the knowledge that, if Kerry released his complete military records, they would show a general discharge for having met with enemy leaders while still in the naval reserve. Kerry was restored to Honorable Discharge status by President Carter in 1978 as a payback favor. Kerry's supporters then coined the term "swift boated" to shift the blame from Kerry to his political opponents even though a full refutation of the accusations was within his control if he were to file a SF-180, which Kerry refuses to do for obvious reasons herein laid bare. The president and his campaign staff were never involved in exposing Kerry as a hypocrite and incorrigible opportunist.

Example (as a verb in the past-tense): Those f&$#ing vets swift-boated the presidential candidate we selected for his ostensible military credentials and electability causing him to lose the election that was supposed to reverse the 2000 presidential election results.

Have at it, Lee'sGhost. All improvements or suggestions are welcome.

.

[Lee'sGhost]

Other than the libelous and totally false statement that I am inadequate I find nothing in your post to quibble over. My point remains, we do not have to let libs define the terminology. I believe "swiftboat" is a great term for our side -- all we have to do is claim it as our own.

[OESY]

Sorry. I didn't see your remark until now. I was too busy defaming others. I think we can agree to agree that better definitions of "swift-boating" are called for, and to the end I emailed mine to Andy Martin and hope to follow-up with Urban Dictionary.

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