The Proper Definition of "Swiftboat" the Verb
Lorie Byrd
There is a definition those on the Left and many in the media have been using for the term "swiftboating." They use the term to refer to a smear of a political opponent with unsubstantiated charges. Many in the media even specifically refer to the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about John Kerry as unsubstantiated. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If I were to use the term "swiftboating," (which I don't) I would use it to refer to whistle blowers who organize and use both paid and free media to spread the truth about a person or issue that is being ignored by mainstream reporters.
Bruce Kesler knows more about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth than anyone I know and he sets the record straight on the whole "swiftboating" issue. He even goes so far as to give the dictionary definitions of "substantiated" and "unsubstantiated" since so many don't seem to be using them properly. Bruce removes any doubt that the majority of the Swift Boat Vet claims were substantiated. (I know I will get tons of disagreement from those on the Left over that statement, but I think the evidence is that compelling.) ...
Read the whole thing, follow the link to Bruce's piece.
A word from the Swift Boat Vets et al.
Scott Johnson
Michael Barone takes note of John Hinderaker's post "Ineffective, even for a liberal" responding to Eric Boehlert. In his response John recaps the contribution of the Swift Boat Vets to the 2004 campaign. Barone comments:
John Hinderaker at Powerline skewers the claim, often made in mainstream media and the left blogosphere, that the charges made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry have been "discredited." To the contrary. There can be disagreement about their characterization of Kerry's service, and some factual dispute about the way in which he earned at least one of his decorations, but nothing has been proved false. On the contrary, it was Kerry who had to abandon the claim, "seared, seared in my memory" as he said on the Senate floor, that he was in Cambodia at Christmastime 1968.
Barone is the peerless commentator on the American political scene. It doesn't get much better than that.
The indefatigable leader of the Swift Boat Vets was John O'Neill. In February 2004, O'Neill was lying in a hospital bed after contributing a kidney for transplantion to his wife. He answered the call of his former commanding officer Roy Hoffman to serve our country one more time by leading the veterans' effort opposing John Kerry. It was the most dramatic story of the 2004 election campaign, now smothered in a welter of lies foisted on the public by the likes of Eric Boehlert. Bruce Kesler is a Vietnam vet who himself commented on John's post at Democracy Project. John O'Neill wrote Bruce "RE: Your blog and the Powerline blog's summary: Thanks--always be grateful for both of you." ...
