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 ...
If that's what you think, serve you right..
"Swift Boating" is actually synonymous with having your peers tell the truth about you.
T. Boone Pickens' one million dollars for the first person to disprove the Swiftboaters' claims is STILL on the table unclaimed...
“Yeah, and that lawsuit against the Swifties for libel and defamation of character was something to behold, wasn’t it?”
SCOTUS has made it just about impossible to get a judgment for libel or slander if you are a big time political candidate. I think it was Sullivan v. NYT.
Are Obama Supporters Shutting Down Blogs? (Free Republic mentioned)
Obama groupies eating their own
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Nice, they’re going to “reclaim” it because the Swift Boat group that helped defeat that Frenchie John Kerry formally disbanded a few weeks ago.
How brave of them: now claiming something that has been left behind.
Fixed.
Unfortunately, this statement is true.
What is amazing is that the MSM has made it true without, as far as I know, finding even a single statement made by the Swiftboaters that was proven false. John Kerry has been offered $1,000,000 if he could prove that the Swiftboaters were lying. He has, so far, failed to collect.
It is the an example of how the MSM manipulates our language to further their socialist/marxist agenda. Do not doubt their power to continue to do so. There influence may be declining but it is still a dominant force in American politics.
Everyone?
B.S.
Just one that I know of: John Kerry.
> Oh for the days of PT 109 and a new Obamalot
I read a great book when I was a kid, called something like “They Were Expendable”, about the Patrol Torpedo boats and their crews that were abandoned by McArthur in the Philippines during his retreat from the Japanese, and how these boats courageously fought the Japs and sought refuge and petrol and torpedoes in and amongst the Philippine Islands as they tried to evade capture...
...I couldn’t have been too much older than nine or ten when I last read it. It was a series of interviews, as I recall, with guys named Kelly and Burkelly (sp) and a few others...
Unforgettable. Can’t find the book anywhere. I know John Ford made a movie in 1945 by the same name, haven’t seen it though.
Now THOSE were swift-boats!
(Audiotape, April 18, 1971):MR. RUSSERT: Thirty years later, you stand by that?MR. CROSBY NOYES (Washington Evening Star): Mr. Kerry, you said at one time or another that you think our policies in Vietnam are tantamount to genocide and that the responsibility lies at all chains of command over there. Do you consider that you personally as a Naval officer committed atrocities in Vietnam or crimes punishable by law in this country?
KERRY: There are all kinds of atrocities, and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50 calibre machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search and destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare, all of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions and all of this is ordered as a matter of written established policy by the government of the United States from the top down. And I believe that the men who designed these, the men who designed the free fire zone, the men who ordered us, the men who signed off the air raid strike areas, I think these men, by the letter of the law, the same letter of the law that tried Lieutenant Calley, are war criminals.
(End audiotape)
(Russert on May 6, 2001)
SEN. KERRY: I don't stand by the genocide. I think those were the words of an angry young man.
Ergo John Kerry lied in a time of war to lower morale in America among the citizens, government, and troops to sway the support against the war in aid and comfort of the enemy. TRAITOR.
Why is it called “Borking” instead of using Kennedyism to slur a nominee?
My earlier response was half joking. But Kerry has done nothing substantive to prove the Swifties wrong. He's used his money and connections to mount an anti-Swifty propaganda campaign in the media instead. Were I in his place, especially with all that Heinz money, and knew the Swifties were making unfounded and malicious accusations, I'd have a battery of lawyers working 24/7 against them.
If I were in his place, I think I’d move to another country where nobody knows me and go on from there.
One of the major ways the Left has altered American culture and political life is through the "politically correct" misuse of language. It's an incredibly potent weapon. Small example:
It wasn't that many years ago that the term "illegal alien" was used universally to describe anyone who was in this country illegally. But that sounded negative and judgmental to Marxists in academia and the media, and it hindered their agenda of deconstructing American society. They've deliberately and gradually morphed it into terms like "undocumented immigrant," utterly changing the meaning. Other euphemisms in wide use that alter meaning are "clandestine workers," "out of status," "unauthorized immigrant," "irregular immigrant," etc.
These terms change the way people think and play on their sympathies. Try saying the words "illegal alien" in most social gatherings today and see what response you get.
Wish I had seen that....
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