Posted on 01/23/2008 9:50:36 AM PST by SpinyNorman
Sen. John Kerry is calling on Democrats to help presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama avoid the fate he endured in the 2004 election -- "swiftboating" by political foes.
In an e-mail sent out Tuesday to Obama's supporters, Kerry wrote:
"I support Barack Obama because he doesn't seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating -- he seeks to end it.
"This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election.
As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta have been rendered, in Karl Rove's twisted politics, an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone's character just to win an election. But as someone who cares about winning this election and changing the country I love, I know it's not enough to complain about a past we can't change when our challenge is to win the future -- which is why we must stop the Swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears.
"The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie.
"This year, the attacks are already starting. Some of you may have heard about the disgusting lies about Barack Obama that are being circulated by email. These attacks smear Barack's Christian faith and deep patriotism, and they distort his record of more than two decades of public service. They are nothing short of "Swiftboat" style anonymous attacks.
"These are the same tactics the right has used again and again, and as we've learned, these attacks, no matter how bogus, can spread and take root if they go unchecked.
"But not this time -- we're fighting back.
"And when I say 'we,' I mean that literally. I know Barack is committed to fighting every smear every time. He'll fight hard and stand up for the truth. But he can't do it alone.
"We need you to email the truth to your address books. Print it out and post it at work. Talk to your neighbors. Call your local radio station. Write a letter to the editor. If lies can be spread virally, let's prove to the cynics that the truth can be every bit as persuasive as it is powerful. ...
"Barack Obama is committed to bringing our country together to meet the challenges we face, but he knows that power gives up nothing without a struggle -- and to win the chance to change America, we must first defeat the hateful tactics that have been used to tear us apart for too long. ...
"The fight is just heating up -- we won't let them steal this election with lies and distortions."
© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
“an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone’s character just to win an election.”
So does this mean that Dan Rather “Swiftboated” President Bush with some forged National Guard memos?
Or was that a case of “fake but accurate”?
I loathe Stalinist socialists.
Cambodia too! Ask to see his secret Navy Seal hat that he keeps in his briefcase. “Shhhh.”
You said everything I was going to say in your OP.
I have no idea whether the Clinton critiques of Obama are accurate or not, but, just as you said, Kerry has never demonstrated that the SVT attacks on him were false. At best, he has shown that they disagree with him and with some official records, but he has not signed a 180 to permit all records to be released.
That says it all. This is about him - not about Obama.
Kerry should have sent the letter to Hillary and Bill if he wanted the smearing to stop.
From JFn’s letter: “They are nothing short of “Swiftboat” style anonymous attacks.”
Not a damned anonymous thing about it ... they had an ad in which swiftboaters appeared personally, by name standing up for their truth. Kerry just doesn’t have a very close relationship to even the concept of truth.
And, unless I’m missing something, the attacks on Obama are not coming from the right but from the grifters from Arkansas/New York.
We have a few actual war heroes in the Senate such as McCain (resisting torture, refusing early release) and Inouye (Medal of Honor and the reason he has only one arm). But Kerry isn’t among them.
Not to knock anyone’s military service, but Kerry just served his time and did his duty. It’s him trying to exaggerate his service to proclaim himself a hero that brought out the Swift Boat vets.
More than that, he went to Vietnam and when he returned, he slandered those who he fought beside purely for his own political gain. He committed treason by meeting with the enemy and led the Fifth Column which handed this country it's first defeat.
Does that mean Obambi had a hat given to him by a CIA agent in Cambodia? Does he still have the hat?
John Kerry needs to STFU actually. His remarks about “the truth matters, but fighting lies matters more” is utter BS.
If the truth matters, you don’t turn around and lie MORE to fight something you consider to be a lie coming from the other side.
When the other side exposes you for what you are, a LIAR, you need to back up, apologize and go back to your corner and STFU. Sorry Kerry, you’re wrong, and if “Swiftboating” means telling the TRUTH, then you, Mr. Kerry are washed up and a loser.
What the hell is he talking about?
"This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election."As one who was in Vietnam when you called us all war criminals for your own political opportunism, your defeat in 2004 wasn't political, it was personal.
Now go away, you annoy me.
I thank you for your service.As one who has never been in the military (other than Basic ROTC), I have a deep respect for what it meant to be under discipline and in harm's way. And I have always marveled that the left wing was able to sell the repudiation of American veterans of Vietnam. If there ever is a full accounting for that, the Democratic Party will cease to exist as a major party.
But of course, it is slowly dawning on us that the Democratic Party is only a front for the real political establishment in America - Big Journalism. In fact, I think that is now my tagline.
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