Posted on 06/30/2008 9:27:15 PM PDT by neverdem
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 of campaign smears, a shadow that hangs over the presidential race as pundits wait to proclaim that the Swiftboating has begun and candidates declare that they will not be Swiftboated.
Swift boat veterans — especially those who had nothing to do with the group that attacked Senator John Kerry’s military record in the 2004 election — want their good name back, and the good names of the men not lucky enough to come home alive.
“You would not hear the word ‘Swift boat’ and think of people that served their country and fought in Vietnam,” said Jim Newell, who spent a year as an officer in charge on one of the small Navy vessels in An Thoi and Qui Nhon. “You think about someone who was involved in a political attack on a member of a different party. It just comes across as negative. Everyone who is associated with a Swift boat is involved in political chicanery.”
Sure, Watergate will never be just the office complex. And the name Willie Horton will always refer to more than just a criminal. But for Swift boat veterans, the name theft is more personal. When they talk about Swift boats, they recall friends...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Puke!
Oh for the days of PT 109 and a new Obamalot
These Swift Boat guys sound like they think they might have been Borked.
I still think it’s funny to hear people calling telling the truth a “smear”. It’s not like the SBVFT tried to obfuscate their position, or hide their identities.
Good thing Kerry released all of his records to clear his good name.
Yeah, and that lawsuit against the Swifties for libel and defamation of character was something to behold, wasn't it?
And it was the lying John Kerrys of the world making up fantastic tales of war crimes witnesses and participated in an fanciful missions to Cambodia on secret assignment by Richard Nixon two months before he was even sworn in that made "Vietnam Veteran" synonymous with "baby killer".
If any veteran who served on a swift boat believes that his service has been sullied, he needs to look to the DNC who turned "swift boat" into a verb and trashed the men who dared speak out against a traitor who lied to Congress and was a part of an organization that plotted to assassinate elected members of Congress.
Truth hurts and Kerry never HAS released his documents for public scrutiny. Sharing them with a friendly journalist at the Boston Glob does not pass the smell test.
An Obama guy started to smear the Swiftboats on H and C tonight, and Rich Lowry tore him a new one. It was incredible to hear.
Basically he said the “swiftboater” they were denigrated was a decorated hero and the stuff movies were made of. And the reason it stuck was because Kerry threw his medals over a fence.
More revisionism on behalf of Jon Carry — I would hope that anyone who cares about the reputation of Vietnam War veterans would be appalled by Jon Carry’s vicious assaults on ALL of them when he launched his scurrilous political career:
When testifying before a Senate committee, Kerry said, “ . . . [W]e had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. . . . They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam . . . “
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2006/05/04/senator_ted_kennedy_—_peace_criminal
PROUD!
Thanks for the link.
This guy must be a real brain trust not to have figured out that Swift Boat Vets is the name for a reason. It was Swift Boat Vets who were involved. Duh!
If you had any sense, Mr. Newell, you would realize that it was kerry who smeared you and that it was the Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth that stood up to the charlatan and cleared your name. But, I have a feeling that you already know the truth.
Swift Boat only became a vulgarity when the NYT decided that it as unfair to challenge the comic book heroics of John F’ing Kerry (because it might hurt his chances of tricking the electorate).
I'll take this opportunity to introduce a new verb into the lexicon...
Blackopsing means claiming hazardous duty which you were never involved.
Mister Kerry has Blackopsed several times about his alleged service in Vietnam.
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