Swiftboaters Take To The Water

This is an excellent big picture piece. The links in the piece are very good to. I would suggest clicking on a number of them. It takes some time to read it all so set aside a little. If you have A.D.D. give up. Here's a sample:

If you thought the tactic of "swiftboating" ended when John Kerry conceded the 2004 election, or perhaps when report after report and article after article after article refuted the "facts" or discredited those involved, you were wrong.

By the time of the "Swiftboat" attack on Kerry, the tactic of attacking and spreading doubts about the quality of a person’s service to the country had already been used successfully and refined. For example, in the 2000 South Carolina primary battle between George W. Bush and John McCain, Bush surrogates (several later involved in the Kerry swiftboating effort) skillfully turned McCain's service record against him (thereby deflecting questions about Bush's own service record.) They planted stories that the torture McCain suffered as a POW had brought about mental instability, including rumors that he had been programmed as a "Manchurian candidate" who "collaborated with the enemy." No longer could McCain use the fact that he had endured torture as evidence of dedication to serving his country......

The tactic was then used on Max Cleland in his 2002 Georgia Senate race against Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss attacked Cleland’s patriotism, "for breaking his oath to protect and defend the Constitution." Surrogates more recently accused Cleland, who lost 3 limbs in Vietnam and received the Bronze and Silver Star, of being injured from "dropping a grenade" when drunk.
Richard Clarke, President Bush's counter-terrorism advisor, was attacked after revealing that he had tried unsuccessfully to get the Bush administration to take al-Queda seriously as a threat before the 9/11 attack. Columnist Paul Krugman summarized "a campaign of character assassination" against Clarke, in which un-named administration officials were saying Clarke "wants to make a few bucks, and that [in] his own personal life, they're also suggesting that there are some weird aspects in his life as well." Other surrogates called him a "fraud."
Even Bush's own Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was attacked with intent to humiliate and discredit him, with inside sources alleging "no one listened to him," accused of misusing classified documents, and forced to recant after he revealed that the Bush administration had been planning to invade Iraq even before the 9/11 attacks. ......

So why does swiftboating work? First, because it is simple, and lays down a clear good vs. evil, black-and-white narrative that is easily understood by regular people who lead busy lives and don't have the time and energy it takes to closely follow the news and track the real facts. .....

"Modern communication isn't about truth, it's about a resonant narrative," says Eric Dezenhall, a former Reagan administration aide and now president of his own crisis management firm. "The myth of PR is that you will educate and inform people. No. The public wants to be told in a story who to like and who to hate.".....

So with swiftboating you spread a smear to raise questions with the public about the opponent's patriotism or service. It doesn't have to be true (how quaint) it just has to raise questions......

....the huge amount of long-term money spent outside the election cycle by the network of conservative think tanks and business groups promoting conservative ideology and issues, repeating to the public in a thousand different ways and through a thousand different channels that conservatives are good and liberals are bad. (Have you heard that?) ....

These are examples of some of the better-known Republican swiftboaters, how they work, what they’ve done and what they’re doing now. Meanwhile, of course, "conservative-movement" outlets like Media Research Center's Cybercast News Service and other echo outfits like NewsMax, Washington Times and WorldNetDaily will be ready to spread the poison as it's produced.

So how DO we fight back? They'll keep doing this as long as it works. But maybe Jim Webb is showing us one way to make it stop working.
This is what was saved for later. These are examples of fighting back! With Chris LaCivita involved in Virginia’s George Allen Senate campaign, it didn't take long before the swiftboating began, with the campaign attacking Jim Webb’s patriotism. But the Webb campaign was ready. From Webb Rips into Allen over flag:

"George Felix Allen Jr. and his bush-league lapdog, Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb's position on free speech and flag burning," Webb spokesman Steve Jarding said in a press release. "Jim Webb served and fought for our flag and what it stands for, while George Felix Allen Jr. chose to cut and run. "When he and his disrespectful campaign puppets attack Jim Webb, they are attacking every man and woman who served. Their comments are nothing more than weak-kneed attacks by cowards." Webb was a Marine in Vietnam, serving as a rifle-platoon leader and company commander. He received the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts, Jarding noted.

...the Republicans desperately need distractions and misdirections to turn the public's and media’s eyes away from their own foreign policy and national security weaknesses. But this time we have been getting ready, and information about the swiftboaters is available. Because we have started fighting back and exposing the swiftboaters, the stealth and surprise of the tactic are blunted. ....


Just what all this hate America, evil liberal talk is all about. It is to keep people talking about that instead of the failed policies of the wingnuts. This is why I have repeatedly said we must keep them on topic. If it is national security we are after talk about what needs to be done. Quit defending and take the offensive!

Our friend Jim at According To My Sources, who does this well, is blogging again...please go to his site and leave some comments...thanks

I'll be spending some time with kids and family this weekend. Have a good one, talk to you soon.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

SWEET NEO CON(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

You call yourself a Christian
I think that you're a hypocrite
You say you are a patriot
I think that you're a crock of shit
And listen, I love gasoline
I drink it every day
But it's getting very pricey
And who is going to pay
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con....

Yeah It's liberty for all
'Cause democracy's our style
Unless you are against us
Then it's prison without trial
But one thing that is certain
Life is good at Haliburton
If you're really so astute
You should invest at Brown & Root.... Yeah
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con

If you turn out right
I'll eat my hat tonight Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah....

It's getting very scary
Yes, I'm frightened out of my wits
There's bombers in my bedroom
Yeah and it's giving me the shits
We must have loads more bases
To protect us from our foes
Who needs these foolish friendships
We're going it alone
How come you're so wrong
My sweet neo con

Where's the money gone
In the Pentagon

The Rolling Stones

Not new but more appropriate every day.

Coffee Table Now With Expresso

They expect us to fall over and be intimidated when they say we don’t support the troops and all this other nonsense”. “They expect us to run away from getting the troops out of Iraq when they say cut and run. It’s not cut and run. It’s common sense.-Russ Feingold

Fresh coffeee, drink it liberally and talk about whatever you wish.

Reading Room

No point here. Just another interesting map.

It's not the profanity- Bush swears and suddenly that is all the media can talk about, could we talk about what he said instead?

Before you believe the wingnuts and their sheeple again it might be good to have a history review.

Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who should win? Why should our men and women be totally unrelated targets in the middle of this?

Game thinks it's the liberals fault, they love the terrorists and if you lived in reality you'd just blow up all the Moslems.

Apparently he has been listening to the Prophet Limbaugh.- -as has been said before, yee-haw is not a foreign policy. Next time you hear these criminally insaniacs say..life is precious, we value life, remember they are only talking about embryos and clinically brain dead women.

For those of us in a world of reality different from Games' or Limpbaugh another look at what is happening.

Oh ya..Iraq. Don't worry, dear leader has it all under control..they'll be standing up anytime now.

Sunday Editorial

What!

This is all just getting to ridiculous for words! What the hell is going on in this country?! Repub. Rep Peter Hoekstra of Michigan recently referenced the "Al Queda sympathizers in the intelligence department". What!!?? I'm willing to bet the farm that there aren't enough '"Al Queda sympathizers " in the entire country to fill a pick up truck. I know that liberals are called that all the time but what moron could do anything but laugh at that? Think about it. Al Queda wants a strict Moslem theocratic government, women completely covered. No free speech or liberty. They want to go back to the 10th century. What Christian American or atheist or forward thinking progressive would ever continence such a thing!? It's just mind numbingly stupid talk. Isn't it possible the people feel the way they do for some other reason. Maybe they have another idea? Are the wingnuts even a bit curious what it might be?

When people speak out about America torturing people the response from the sheeple is "ya but why aren't you talking about the head choppers et al, you just hate America, a part of the hate America first crowd!" What kind of bonehead could utter such nonsense? How much dumber do you have to be to follow someone who utters such foolishness? Here is a clue to the sheeple. I live in the United States of America. I care deeply about my country. As part of the government of we the people I care about what is done IN MY NAME! I obviously don't countenance head chopping. The people that are doing that don't represent me. Wouldn't it be nice if the people that are represented by the head choppers would speak up like some of us do? The people that torture in the name of the U.S. DO represent me. I find torture by anyone repugnant but when you do it and include me as a US citizen as partially responsible I am damned well going to speak out. Do you get it now!? If we are to be the shining beacon we should set the high standard.

I am confused as to what the wingnuts want our soldiers to do in Iraq. The shias are fighting with the sunnis, the kurds are caught in the middle and our soldiers are asked to be ducks in a shooting gallery. And these people that want them to stay there say they support the troops!? I know, when they stand up we will stand down. How is this possible when many we are training are a part of the group doing the ethnic killing and kidnapping? If we stand down the cream of the crop will stand up. They will fight for the government they deserve. Our troops got rid of Saddam and company. That is all they can do. The rest is up to diplomacy. Why should our soldiers stay and pay..with their lives? What is expected of them? Pardon me for saying so but from our side there is no military solution. It is now up to the Iraqi people. They must take some personal responsibility.

In previous administrations the US continued to stay involved in world events and attempted to keep the finger in the dike. The current administration cut off diplomacy as a way of solving world problems and the results from N. Korea to Russia to the middle east are being felt today.
When is the radical right going to quit calling people names, accusing them of treason and start to really get involved in solving problems. Is it a civil war they are looking for or a great country? This is a completely, utterly failed government. I could list issues all day. It's time for the sheeple to quit following the wingnuts over the cliff and bring America back..It's getting mighty close to too late.