The swiftboating of Barack Obama

Presidential races generally hinge on character issues - as Republicans understand. That's why, the last two times out, the GOP has won the White House by hammering into voters' minds the idea that the Democratic candidate embodies a particular negative quality. In 2000, Al Gore was depicted as a serial exaggerator [? did he not invent the internet?]. Four years later, John Kerry was portrayed as a weak-willed flip-flopper [? was he not for the war before he was against it?]. Ultimately, it was these personal caricatures, far more than any specific policy prescriptions*, that doomed the Democrats...

[I beg to differ: it was the policies, and this piece is pure spin - as is the entire MSM talking point that it's Obama that's being targeted unfairly. And about that title...


Remembering What the Swift Boat Vets Actually Said

I'm not the first to make this point, but it seems the attacks on John McCain's war service stem from prominent Democrats completely misreading what happened with the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. The Democrats' conventional wisdom is that A) everything the group said was a lie and B) they attacked Kerry's wartime service.

Go back and reread what they charged. (Take a walk down memory lane from the Kerry Spot here, here and here and Byron's assessment of the impact here.)

There were about 200 members of Swift Boat Vets for Truth. Maybe some of them had faulty memories, or were down-the-line Republicans, or just plain didn't like Kerry. But all of them?

READ MORE