SwiftVets.com Forum Index SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Harry Forbes: "The 'Swift Boat Hush'"

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    SwiftVets.com Forum Index -> Swift Vets and POWs for Truth
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Me#1You#10
Site Admin


Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503

PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:03 pm    Post subject: Harry Forbes: "The 'Swift Boat Hush'" Reply with quote

But will it make Wikipedia ?

Quote:
The 'Swift Boat Hush'
June 16, 2006
Harry Forbes

Amid all the media fanfare during the run-up to the recent special election in California’s 50th congressional district, there is also a marvelous case of mainstream media omission. Here is a snippet from an LA Times story on the election:
    Some analysts blamed Busby's loss on a gaffe during the campaign's final days, when at a rally she seemed to be encouraging illegal immigrants to vote. Before her comments, GOP officials in Washington were increasingly concerned about the outcome. But after Busby's comments Thursday night, momentum in the race switched.
So exactly when did the LA Times first report on this critical gaffe that occurred on June 1? The LA Times first mentioned it in the above story on June 8 – an entire week after it occurred and only after the election. The LA Times broke the news delicately to its readers without repeating the offensive text of the gaffe ("You don't need papers for voting.").

Of course if you wanted news of the Busby gaffe before the election, it was available in some places. The San Diego Union Tribune did have a story covering it before the election. Hugh Hewitt had it. Power Line blog had the audio recording, and the story reached the zenith of the blogosphere, Instapundit, on June 4. But the crucial words were deemed unworthy to be printed by newspapers such as the LA Times and the New York Times…until after the election. This media behavior reminds me very much of the 17 days in 2004 when the charges of the Swift Boat veterans were also unmentionable in the MSM, even though in retrospect both presidential campaign managers agreed that these charges represented the most crucial juncture of the campaign.

There should be a special term to describe this media behavior. So here is a proposed definition:
    Swift Boat Hush (n.) - A behavior of the mainstream media during an election campaign characterized by a period of widespread silence concerning a news story that is severely embarrassing to a liberal candidate. The silence ends when it no longer shields the candidate from damage.
BlogCritics.org
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NortonPete
PO2


Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 385

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:15 am    Post subject: I don't like this definition. Reply with quote

Swifty's fought fast and hard.
I'm reading ( a bit late ) " American Soldier General Tommy Franks".
He did everything he could to get back into action and even credited a
Swift Boat detachment at My Tho with teaching him about arming a
7.62mm minigun electrically.

To ignore the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth is not a Hush.
Its a clear cut cowardly DENIAL.

So I suggest:

SWIFT BOATERS DENIED OF TRUTH ( n. ) A behavior of the mainstream media at all times consisting of a deliberate denial of any truthful reporting.
This can be referred to as a SBDT in the future.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mtboone
Founder


Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 470
Location: Kansas City, MO.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:36 am    Post subject: Re: I don't like this definition. Reply with quote

[quote="NortonPete"]Swifty's fought fast and hard.
I'm reading ( a bit late ) " American Soldier General Tommy Franks".
He did everything he could to get back into action and even credited a
Swift Boat detachment at My Tho with teaching him about arming a
7.62mm minigun electrically.quote]

To my knowledge, we never had a 7.62 minigun electrically nor were we at My Tho, but Cat Lo was near. I would like you to post the page where he made these comments. It sound mores like a PBR base or more likely the Mobile Riverine Force, but PBRs did not have 7.62 electrical miniguns either.
_________________
Terry Boone PCF 90
Qui Nhon 68-69
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Me#1You#10
Site Admin


Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I believe Thomas Lipscomb will have something to say about the "Swift Boat Hush" very shortly. If the time sequence of his last 2 Kerry articles are any indication, keep an eye out late tomorrow nite (I hope).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NortonPete
PO2


Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 385

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:27 pm    Post subject: Re: I don't like this definition. Reply with quote

[quote="mtboone"]
NortonPete wrote:
Swifty's fought fast and hard.
I'm reading ( a bit late ) " American Soldier General Tommy Franks".
He did everything he could to get back into action and even credited a
Swift Boat detachment at My Tho with teaching him about arming a
7.62mm minigun electrically.quote]


To my knowledge, we never had a 7.62 minigun electrically nor were we at My Tho, but Cat Lo was near. I would like you to post the page where he made these comments. It sound mores like a PBR base or more likely the Mobile Riverine Force, but PBRs did not have 7.62 electrical miniguns either.


On page 116 the following is written:

>Then late one afternoon in May my battalion commander, Lt Colonel Al Lamas.....called me to his office.
He'd been reading my ideas about better coordination between Infantry units and the Field Artillery units that supported them. I'd written a report
drawing on my experience with Eric Antila and the 5-60, describing the separate-channel radio links I'd set up in the command-and-control helicopter to listen to the maneuvering ground unitsin one earphone and the Artillery fire bases in the other. And I'd described arming one of the Battalion's M-113 tracks with an electrically driven 7.62 mm minigun I'd picked up from a Navy Swiftboat detachment down at My Tho .
<
I probably misunderstood this.

Tommy Franks starts this book by acknowledging he didn't keep a diary
and that everything is from memory. Its a good read. Particularily in the treatment of his being wounded. If I read it correctly, he was wounded a number of times and didn't receive any metals. I believe he said something to the effect that if you didn't spend time in a hospital it wasn't
considered much. This is my impression. But the difference between Tommy Franks accounts of combat and Skerry are very pronounced.

Update: I found this at
http://www.military.com/HomePage/TitleHistories/1,10982,700895|700651,00.html?historyList=

>Members of the brown water Navy were also attached to the SEAL units to operate the MSSC, or Medium SEAL Support Craft. The MSSC was a
catamaran-hulled design that was low to the water making it harder to see and target. The MSSC also had a shallow draft and a top speed of over 30
kts. It was also designed with Pintel mounts for weapons, allowing heavier weapons such as the 7.62mm minigun firing 6,000 rounds per minute and
Mk 18. automatic grenade launchers. <
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    SwiftVets.com Forum Index -> Swift Vets and POWs for Truth All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group