SwiftVets.com

[Me#1You#10]

Perhaps just another obscure article from the world of liberal academia, but the assault on the truth of the Swiftvet campaign continues...

(emphasis mine)

Quote:

Kerry aide pans nasty Bush run by Jesse Greenspan Contributing Writer Washington Square News NYU's Daily Student Newspaper Issue date: 11.29.2004 George W. Bush ran the most negative presidential campaign in history, and the media never covered the story, an aide to Sen. John Kerry's campaign said last Monday at the journalism department. Marco Trbovich, a United Steelworkers of America employee who advised Kerry on labor policy, told the 20 students gathered at Carter Hall that about 80 percent of Bush's campaign money was spent on negative advertising. "If you can think of a few positive commercials that you saw, you saw all of them that were there," he said. Bush's campaign played upon fear, using patriotic and religious fervor to make voters fear Kerry and the changes he might bring, Trbovich said. "The Bush strategy worked, creating a big question mark over John Kerry's ability to lead," he said. Trbovich, who spoke as part of the journalism department's "brown bag" lecture series, singled out two campaign phenomena that he said the media covered particularly poorly: a Bush ad about Kerry's health care plan that Trbovich called completely false, and the months-long smear campaign by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which claimed, among other things, that Kerry faked injuries in Vietnam. "The Kerry campaign didn't act fast enough because it wasn't cynical enough about the media [to think] that controversy was more important than context," said Trbovich, who has reported for United Press International, the Detroit Free Press and The Boston Phoenix, among other news organizations. "I think [Bush strategist Karl] Rove is appropriately cynical about the quality -- or lack of it -- in the American media these days," he said. Trbovich also credited Rove for successfully enlarging the base of the Republican Party, something he said his own party failed to do. He was particularly disappointed in the Democrats' failure to reach blue-collar workers. "We had a very yuppified campaign," he said, citing as an example Kerry's five speechwriters, all of whom were Harvard University graduates and were under 30. "I could never convince those people that the privatization of Social Security was a big issue." He also said labor had been marginalized, adding, "There's a kind of elitism to the Democratic Party." Trbovich has known Kerry for more than 30 years, he said, and even worked as communications director of Kerry's failed 1972 congressional campaign. He said the Massachusetts senator has more integrity and intelligence than almost anyone else he knows. He added, however, that unlike Bill Clinton, Kerry's intellect is at stronger than his political ear. "Excuse my language, but you've literally got to beat the **** out of John Kerry sometimes to get him where you want him to go," he said. Washington.Square.Com

In case you're so moved...

Contacts:

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Bret Nolan Collazzi
editor@nyunews.com

[RogerRabbit]

[MSeeger]

Pardon me, but perhaps it's because I don't live in a swing state...I don't recall seeing any negative Bush campaign ads, not to the extent that the Democratic 527's ran.

The only ads I saw other than the SVPT ones (which I saw on the internet and on FOX), were those which used Kerry's own words against him, and they were mostly based on the issues.

So...I wonder sometimes what planet these people are living on.

Maria
_________________
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Gal. 6:7

[commdog]

You gotta give the guy some credit, there was a lot of truth in what he said:

"...to make voters fear Kerry and the changes he might bring..." (I didn't need anyone to tell me, Kerry's actions have been telling everyone for years.)

"The Bush strategy worked, creating a big question mark over John Kerry's ability to lead". (Ditto)

"...the months-long smear campaign by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which claimed, among other things, that Kerry faked injuries in Vietnam." (They weren't 'faked', they were real injuries. Kerry just made fraudulent reports about how he recieved them.)

"I think [Bush strategist Karl] Rove is appropriately cynical about the quality -- or lack of it -- in the American media these days". (Well said.)

"Trbovich also credited Rove for successfully enlarging the base of the Republican Party, something he said his own party failed to do. He was particularly disappointed in the Democrats' failure to reach blue-collar workers." (Ditto.)

"He also said labor had been marginalized, adding, 'There's a kind of elitism to the Democratic Party'." (Ditto, to which I would add, it ain't the 'DemocratIC" party any more, it's just plain-old Democrat party. Please note the correct name in the future.)
/CD
_________________
Sgt of Marines, 1965 -> Forever
"Society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases." - John Adams

[USMCWayne]

How can it be a "smear campaign" when the information used is true?

As a long-term Democrat, I was and have been turned off by the negative Democratic and 527 ads, and by the personal attacks used by the Dems in their "do and say anything" quest to get Kerry elected.

Besides having a bad candidate, the Democrats simply ran a bad campaign, and it showed in the final vote tally.

[commdog]

Couldn't agree more. My family has voted D since FDR. This isn't my father's DemorcratIC party any more. I agree with the author of another thread who stated that the SV/POW and the Rs simply did a better job of vetting the Dem candidate.
/CD
_________________
Sgt of Marines, 1965 -> Forever
"Society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases." - John Adams

[scotty61]

Let's see, Bush was called a liar, a murderer, a nazi, Hitler, a traitor, a coward, a draft dodger, a deserter, a fascist, a terrorist, an idiot, a moron, stupid, a warmonger, a dictator, an emperor, a chimp, a shrub, a female reproductive organ, a racist, a bigot, unfeeling, uncaring, insensitive, mentally deranged, insane, had his military service smeared and was attacked by a network with charges based on forged and false documents and they think he ran a dirty campaign? I think someone needs a reality check.
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.

[gmez2001]

[gmez2001]

[Tom Poole]

[Mooncusser]

Use the truth against John Kerry ?

That is indeed a smear campaign.
_________________
MACV '64...65
Thu Thua, Long An

I actually won the election before I lost it.

"It is a good day to fight! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear!" (Crazy Horse)

[army72]

This certainly isn't your father's democratic party any more. Look at the people trying to drive the party to the extreme left. Moore, Streisand, Sheen, Penn, Kerry, Teddy, Hillary, Gore, Mahr, Sharpton, Jackson, the ACLU, Soros, Rather and the list just keepings on going...including most of hollywood. Is there anybody that thinks they really help our country by attacking the pres, undercutting our troops by protesting their actions, and constantly going against our actions. People like the Dixie Chicks that tried to gain popularity by going overseas and attacking our pres in front of other countries.

I wonder why that party doesn't understand that their actions go directly against our troops. At one time I was also a democrat but they've screwed that party up so much that I can't see myself returning to it.

I watched as people like I have listed above spewed hatred and attacked without regard to the truth. When they ran out of hate messages, they made up new attacks....' RatherGate', 'He Knew!' (refering to 9/11), 'stealing votes', and others.

The Academy Awards are now tainted by the likes of Streisand and her gang pushing to get Moore nominated for an award and stonewalling Gibsons masterpiece to block his nomination. I think the backlash is long overdue, when people get tired of these idiots pushing their agendas and stop going to their movies. It wouldn't take long for the big money to make changes and fire some of these dopes.
_________________
Hillary and Kerry in '08? Something smells!!

[Tom Poole]

[GoophyDog]

And they still haven't got it. Notice how SVPT got lumped in with the Bush campaign. Until the democrat party leadership realizes that it had nothing to do with the party and was only the candidate they chose, they are doomed to failure.
_________________
Why ask? Because it needs asking.

[SBD]

This guy is nothing but a mouthpiece for the United Steal Workers of America who went around the country proclaiming that the UNION would give Kerry a victory. He also claims to have served with Kerry in Vietnam and joined in his Anti-War Protests.

Look how wrong they were!!

Copyright 2004 Guardian Newspapers Limited
The Guardian (London) -- Final Edition
February 12, 2004

Comment & Analysis: Kerry will win the patriot game: Bush is trying and failing to dent the Democratic front runner's war record -- just as Nixon did before him
BYLINE: Sidney Blumenthal

Since the onset of the cold war, the Republicans have attempted to taint the Democrats as unpatriotic, in league with America's enemies, without and within.With the cold war's end, one of the central organising principles of the Republican political strategy dissolved. But in the aftermath of September 11, George Bush and his political adviser Karl Rove have reanimated the patriot game, and Democrats have been conflated with terrorists and tyrants.

The founding father of the Republican patriot game was Richard Nixon, whose career was borne along by impugning the patriotism of Democratic opponents and uncovering subversives whom he claimed represented the heart of the new deal. His relentless ambition, however, was thwarted when he found himself confronted by a war hero, John F Kennedy. In 1960, the game was over. But the Vietnam war gave Nixon the platform for his resurrection. Once he became president, the game of smearing the Democrats was reinvented as he set Vietnam veterans and hard hat, blue--collar workers against war protesters.

In the spring of 1971, a worrisome new political figure emerged to oppose Nixon's Vietnam policy. On April 22, John Kerry, wearing combat fatigues, his silver star, bronze star and three purple hearts, testified before the Senate foreign relations committee. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?" Kerry asked. "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? This administration has done us the ultimate dishonour. They have attempted to disown us and the sacrifices we made for this country." According to Nixon's secret White House tapes, a number of fretful meetings were held about how to discredit Kerry. Nixon, the ultimate opportunist, wanted to characterise Kerry as one, too. "Well, he is sort of a phoney, isn't he?" Nixon was recorded as saying. "A racket, sure." "He came back a hawk and became a dove when he saw the political opportunities," Charles Colson, his hatchet man, noted. At which Nixon said: "Well, anyway, keep the faith." Colson then
sent Nixon a memo: "Destroy the young demagogue. . ."

The day after Kerry's testimony, Nixon held another meeting. His chief of staff, HR Haldeman, said: "He did a superb job on it at foreign relations committee yesterday. A Kennedy--type guy, he looks like a Kennedy, and he talks exactly like a Kennedy." That sort of comparison could only incite Nixon's dread and envy. He did not believe that Kerry had ever won medals for bravery. "Bob, the navy didn't have any casualties in Vietnam except in the air," he insisted. Three days later, Haldeman returned. "We've got some interesting dope on Kerry. Kerry, it turns out, some time ago decided he wanted to get into politics."

In another meeting, Haldeman and John Ehrlichman suggested to Nixon that if Kerry led protesters who cut their hair and wore ties and allied with "the hard hats", they would win a majority to their side. "That's right," said Nixon. But, he added: "They're against all that."

From the Republican side, Kerry's march toward the Democratic presidential nomination has appeared as another chance to re--engage with the patriot game. But questions raised about the rationale for the Iraq war have brought to the surface the palimpsest of Vietnam. Bush, the heir of the Nixon party, facing a genuine war hero and a critic of that war and this, finds himself scurrying to explain his apparent absence without leave from his national guard service for an entire year during Vietnam.

His White House is tossing scraps of records to the press that are only provoking additional questions about his prior false explanations. Democratic strategists are now planning to use the tape of Bush, wearing a flight suit on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, declaring: "Mission accomplished", which Republicans were once aiming to use as the
centrepiece of their campaign.

Kerry's appeal to veterans isn't simply because he's a veteran. For the Vietnam vets, he has come to stand for the male, blue--collar worker of their generation, the ultimate swing voter. In the light of comparison, they are coming to see Bush as the privileged evader of service, who now is standing with his wealthy friends against them. Kerry is the aristocrat, as a
member of the band of brothers. Nixon's fear is being realised.

Marco Trbovich served in the navy with Kerry, marched against the Vietnam war with him, worked in his campaigns, and is now the communications director of the United Steel Workers of America. "John's been in the foxhole," he told me. "He's endured, survived and never forgotten who these guys are. This is completely authentic. If you're a veteran of Vietnam you understand how unjustly the system can treat you. Now the economic system is treating them unjustly, and Bush is responsible. John's credibility with working--class men who didn't get college educations is enormous. A guy who pretends and puts on a jumpsuit doesn't get it."

Bush, in his interview this week on NBC's Meet the Press, styled himself as a "war president". But he finds himself in a quagmire of his own making and the patriot game has taken an unexpected turn.

Sidney Blumenthal is former senior adviser to President Clinton and author of The Clinton Wars
Sidney--Blumenthal@yahoo.com


Marco Trbovich is the one who just doesn't get it!!

SBD