Swift Boat vs. 'Swift Boat'
By Steve Benen Tuesday Jul 24, 2007 2:02pmEric Boehlert has an important piece that we can only hope political reporters read.
When a prominent group of New York City firefighters attacked Rudy Giuliani's handling of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and when they posted a video online puncturing what they called the "urban legend of America's Mayor," the political press knew what to do -- it anointed the first responders as this election cycle's Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Newsweek, Time, MSNBC, the New York Daily News, and scores more all agreed that the firefighters were just like the Vietnam veterans who targeted the military service of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) during the 2004 presidential run.
But that's the king of phony comparisons. And by making it, the press, once again, is letting the lying Swift Boat Vets off easy.
As Boehlert explained, "For the Beltway press, Swift Boat has simply become a catch-all phrase to describe coordinated, negative campaign attacks that try to take a candidate's perceived strength and turn it into a weakness." For those who saw what the right-wing lies did to tarnish the record of a war hero, we know the phrase means a lot more.
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The entire Republican party seems to be based on lies and deceit. I honestly can't understand why anyone would vote right.
Getting the job as President seems like a losing proposition seeing how screwed up America is from the Bush administration.
Them God Damned firefighters! How dare they question the Great Rudy! Sent them to Gitmo!
You mean the pack of cowards and liars known as the "Sniveling Swift-Boat Crybabies Against John Kerry because it's his fault we weren't treated like heroes when we came home and pelted with flowers and candy"? Uh, that group?
I agree with WR. Sometimes I wonder about the mentality of anyone who would want to walk into the oval office after bush leaves for the last time.
The original swift boaters were a hell of a lot different than the firemen. A hell of a lot different!
The latest issue of Harper's has an excellent article that shows how full of shit the Guiliani mythology is. He pretty much took credit for stuff that other people did, race-baited, and happened to be at the right place at the right time.
I saw the video made by the NYC firefighters and was proud of them for making it and getting the truth about how Rudy behaved so clear to so many. I cheer the firefighters on and would love to see Rudy (or is it Judy?) have to face the repercussions of his behavior and his lies. He's a crook and a liar just like the boys he wants to be pals with...
And another difference... Looks who funds the "bad Swift Boats"
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Swift_Boat_Veterans_for_Truth
Just like the new one...
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vets_for_Freedom
"Theres more to the picture
than meets the eye.." -NY
We know the real story...
"As Bush&Co. isolate themselves even further in the White House Bunker with their lies, scandals, coverups and unending wars, they're becoming even more reckless and dangerous to America and its citizens. That behavior shouldn't be all that surprising: --> That's what happens when vicious animals are cornered.
http://www.crisispapers.org/essays7w/getitnow.htm
"Thunder on the mountain heavy as can be
Mean old twister bearing down on me
All the ladies in Washington scrambling to get out of town
Looks like something bad gonna happen, better roll your airplane down"
http://expectingrain.com/dok/cd/2006/moderntimeslyrics.shtml
What amazes me when I get solicitations to subscribe to these propaganda sheets, is the shock of the solicitors after I tell them I wouldn't line a bird cage with their publications. When they ask why and I tell them that they are just conservative, rightwing propaganda outlets, they invariably say, "that's a reason I've never heard before".
Why the hell does anybody read that garbage?
The original Swift Boaters belong to the lying, cheating Republicans in the same way Joseph McCarthy does.
Don't let the NeoCons associate the Swift Boat Liars w/us, the progressives.
Agreed. Giuliani is trying to tap into that "Macho-American male" image that made the careers of John Wayne, Ronald Reagan and Dubya. We have to show the world that the image is fake and a total fraud. Just because he talks tough doesn't mean he is tough. All he did was make strong speeches while the fire fighters did all the work.
the MSM is a bunch of lazy barbie/ken dolls (with very very few exceptions)
i dont trust a single word that comes out of their mouths.
fox labels specter democrat even in transcripts: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290769,00.html
Maybe this is what happened to the Cons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRuNlSEnFss
Funny how the MSM was so slow to pick up on the underhanded tactics of the Swift Boaters when they went after Kerry. But let anyone criticize Rudy and they are all over it. Pathetic.
The reichwingers are still swiftboating because it works!
When will the Dems fight fire with fire?! You'd think the way the rethugs have bogged down action in Congress that THEY were the majority!
It just shows that the media remain intellectually lazy. Rather than check the firefighters' video for accuracy - thereby blowing a second hole in the hull of Rudy's candidacy - they took the easy route and used the Swift Boat label.
Of course, what they don't realize because they're too stupid, is that they've just labelled the video a pack of lies. Either that or declared that the slime thrown at Kerry was truth.
And they wonder why they no longer have the respect of the people...
Bush Co's PR for when the battle for space begins.
"We face a new enemy, the likes of which we've never seen before"
http://www.evula.org/dragoon/pics/aliens.jpg
What is it about accuracy that is so hard for the MSM to grasp?
They're helping the Swift Boaters get off?
How many times last fall did we see the exposure of a right-wing below-the-belt smear campaign dismissed by the media with the statement that "both sides do it." But they never showed any proof that our side was equally guilty, let alone being guilty at all.
The wing-nuts lie, and the media says "it's just politics." Progressives expose the lies, hypocrisy and/or corruption, and the media says they're "playing dirty."
Remember how they tried to blame Mark Foley on the Democrats?
It reminds of the attorney defending a guy charged with assault and battery who claimed the victim "kept hitting my client in the knuckles with his face."
Fine with me, call it what you want. Sucks when the shoe is on the other foot. Let their bitching begin.
they're not lazy, thet just take their marching orders from karl rove.
That's a good point. I never thought of it, and have use the phrase, swift boat.
In truth, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were nothing but a bunch of lying turds who smeared Kerry.
Rethugs. are only happy when they are spreading hatred, well known lies or total stupidity.
Telling the truth is NOT a "swift boat" attack.
myiq2xu @ 20:
That was Al Bundy.
Think they'll Swift Boaters will provide this entertainment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTFq8QLKumQ
There has been talk lately of restoring the "Fairness Doctrine," which was a FCC requirement that broadcasters using the limited bandwidth of the "public airwaves" give equal time to the differing sides of controversial issues.
The media today have their own version of the doctrine, but it's a grotesque mutant. First of all, they pick someone like Joe Leiberman (or his campaign manager, Dan Gerstein) to represent the Democrats, rather than choosing a real Democrat/Progressive (or allowing the Democratic Party to choose a representative.)
Then they present both sides as if they are equal, without any analysis or fact-checking (they do commentary, but not analysis.) So a well-reasoned, cogent argument supported by facts and hard evidence is treated as if it were no better than the opinion of some bigoted loud-mouth with no proof whatsoever to support his claims.
In the first instance, viewers are presented with a debate between the right and the far-right as if it were actually left v. right. In the second instance, viewers are presented with both sides of an argument, but are not given the necessary tools to determine who is lying and who is telling the truth.
But worst of all for us progressive/liberal types who were raised to be polite and follow the rules of debate, the usual debate format favors whoever is loudest and rudest.
This is the Ron White School of Debate. He said in his first debate, he turned to the other guy and said in rebuttal, "FUCK YOU!" When the other guy was speechless, White said "I thought I had won."
Isn't it ironic? During the 2004 campaign, the media never really questioned Swift Boat Vets for Truth, despite the documented inaccuracies, misleading statements and outright lies.
Now they accuse the New York firefighters of "Swift Boating" Giuliani.
Does that mean they're accusing the firefighters lf lying, since the Swift Boat Vets for Truth were lying? Or does that mean they without question believe the firefighters as they did the Swift Boat vets? Who was lying then, and who is lying now, according to the media?
ysbaddaden @ 26:
That doesn't surprise me. Married With Children" was on FOX.
WR @ 1:
Because they believe it will result in lower taxes and less restriction on religion.
Old Billy @ 18:
... as if the public cares about accuracy.
You can measure the distance between Mercury and Pluto and it will still fall short of the distance between the Firefighters against Ghouliani and the Smear Boat Veterans.
Fugg the MSM. The U.S. media is the laughingstock of the world.
myiq2xu @ 28:
Please excuse my fanboyishness, but Ron White rules.
myiq2xu @ 30:
So's MySpace, with their thousands of pervs stalking young kids.
A couple of years ago the SwiftBoaters sailed their pansy asses over to our blog, Soldiers for the Truth--SFTT.ORG--boasting about what they had done to Kerry's campaign.
It didn't take long for the veterans of SFTT to torpedo their boatload of lies and hypocrisy, and soon the Swiftboaters had retreated back to their own site and sites they have effectively crashed--like Chronwatch.com--where, I presume, they continue to bullshit one another about their own "heroics".
Bunch of punks.
One is reminded of Adlai Stevenson's offer to one of his Republican opponents, "If you stop lying about me, I'll stop telling the truth about you." The difference of course between the Swift Boat Veterans and the Firefighters is that the latter are telling the truth about Rudy.
slappy magoo @ 29:
It goes way beyond that. Not only did the media not question either the veracity or the motives of the Swift Boat Veterans, they MULTIPLIED the effectiveness of their campaign by at orders of magnitude. For every paid minute of advertising the SWVFT got an hour or more of free time on CNN, FOX, and the major networks, during prominent segments of their "news" shows. For a few million dollars, they got billions worth of exposure for their message.
Pehehhh!
I think the irony of the comparison is obvious to both Ghouliani and the American People.
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