[Fiji Hill]

Although the swift boat sailors were proven correct when it came to Kerry, "swiftboating" has come to be a synonym for mudslinging, thanks to the media. Even conservatives have been been using the term, and John Gibson wrote a book entitled How the Left Swiftboated America: The Liberal Media Conspiracy to Make You Think George Bush Was the Worst President in History (New York: Harper, 2009).

While "Romneyboated" was a poor choice of words, I don't believe Gingrich intentionally smeared the veterans. Nonetheless, I wish he would stop whining about the negative ads.

[JediJones]

I always took the swiftboat term to mean an effective negative ad campaign. It doesn’t imply whether the ads were true or not, just that they were negative and worked.

The idea that O’Neill bashes Newt for supposedly flip-flopping but would be okay with Romney as a nominee means he has no credibility. He either hasn’t looked at Romney’s record or is being disingenuous and has some other reason to not back Gingrich.

Newt has been extremely consistent on his views and policies over a long period of time. The only thing I’m aware that he changed his mind on was the individual mandate. He worked with Pelosi and Sharpton to promote his views, not because he agreed with theirs. Trying to work with the opposition is a necessary and admirable tactic to get things done. Some people on FR seem to think the opposition is satanic. No, they’re simply wrong, but we can work with them on the portions of their views that are correct. That’s how Newt got things done in Congress.