Me#1You#10
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 Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:38 pm Post subject: Mike Rosen: "It's 'swiftboating' season" |
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Mike Rosen "swiftboats" the left in a well-written commentary on the leftist campaign to define "swiftboat" as a pejorative...
| Quote: | Opinion Columnists
Rosen: It's 'swiftboating' season
Mike Rosen
June 30, 2006
Rocky Mountain News
During her husband's presidency, Hillary Clinton liked to complain about persecution at the hands of the "vast right-wing conspiracy." She took for granted, of course, ideological support from the dominant liberal mass media.
Ever short on reasoned rebuttal, liberaldom has now come up a new buzzword to rationalize legitimate criticism. It's "swiftboating." A recent letter to the editor from a livid Boulderite (where else?) complained that, "University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill is clearly the latest focus of a 'swift boat'-style campaign. Each of us should be asking ourselves, 'Who's next?' " She then went on to lambaste the Rocky Mountain News for participating in this "specious attack."
In light of Monday's announcement by Interim Chancellor Philip DiStefano that CU intends to fire Churchill for egregious research misconduct, does that make the CU administration, then, also guilty of "swiftboating" the disgraced soon-to-be-former professor, or was this simply the just termination of a fraud who broke the rules? A "specious attack" on Churchill? Give me a break!
"Swiftboating" has also been recently invoked to deflect criticism of Cindy Sheehan, John Murtha and Al Gore. This is the left's contemporary update of the old McCarthyism Gambit. Originally, "McCarthyism" was a term that connoted unfair accusations about an individual's ties to communist organizations. While Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the redhunter-in- chief of the 1940s and 1950s, had the goods on some dyed- in-the-wool commies who had infiltrated our government, he was also given to demagoguery and irresponsible allegations about others. So, if someone rashly calls you a commie, and you're not, that's McCarthyism. If you are, it's not. Accusing Ted Kennedy of being a communist would be McCarthyism (I assume). Calling Fidel Castro a communist, wouldn't.
"Swiftboating" is a loaded, critical term coined by leftists during the 2004 presidential campaign, referring to criticism of John Kerry by John O'Neill (author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry) and more than 250 other members of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. These were Vietnam veterans, 60 of whom were wounded in combat, who served in U.S. naval units like Kerry's, and who disputed his embellished and exaggerated accounts of personal heroic battle experiences.
Since Kerry had built his political career on his opposition to the war in Vietnam and had made his military experience there the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, his self-serving claims were fair game for scrutiny.
We learned how he lobbied for Purple Hearts for questionable wounds enabling him to cut his Vietnam tour 243 days short, and what appeared to be an outright fabrication about a Christmas Eve mission to Cambodia. I suppose it's possible that Kerry had it right and that all of his swift boat critics were lying. It's also possible Kerry was lying. The dispute was never definitively resolved.
Today, "swiftboating," like McCarthyism, has come to be used by leftists as a facile antidote to dodge or dismiss legitimate criticism which they condescendingly characterize as merely an ad hominem attack, nothing more than name-calling or smearing. But this charade just doesn't hold up. Cindy Sheehan hasn't been "swiftboated." She's an emotionally distraught, foolish airhead. And that's not an ad hominen attack. If you've listened to her speak, it's an accurate, clinical appraisal.
Have you heard the names she's called the president? Talk about ad hominen. She's exploited her son Casey's death in service to his country to advance her own obsessive cause. She has no standing to speak for him, or for any other parent who's lost a son or daughter in Iraq and who might disagree with her. She's entered into political combat and has been held to account for her words and actions.
John Murtha has taken a strong position on an immediate and premature retreat from Iraq. The Democrats have showcased him as a critic of the war because he carries the authority of a military veteran as compared to, say, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney. He's entitled to his opinion but not to any special deference for his views. To disagree with Murtha's policy proposals is not to "swiftboat" him.
Al Gore is attempting a political comeback on the back of dramatic claims about impending global warming and how human activity contributes to it. The science is most certainly not settled. Reputable experts disagree and have debated the issue on the facts and the credibility of projections. The only name-calling I've heard is coming form the global warming side and their cheerleaders in the liberal media. How in the world is disagreement with Gore "swiftboating"?
It's bad enough when liberals use this term. When supposedly objective journalists use it, it's intolerable.
Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA. He can be reached by e-mail at mikerosen@850koa.com.
Inset:
About Mike Rosen
Mike Rosen hosts Denver's most popular local radio talk show on 850 KOA. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Denver, was a corporate finance executive at Samsonite and Beatrice Foods, served as Special Assistant for Financial Management to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy at the Pentagon and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He's traveled extensively in Europe, the Far East, Latin America, southern Africa and the former Soviet Union. Mike grew up in New York and has lived in Colorado for over 30 years.
Rocky Mountain News
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