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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
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 Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:48 pm Post subject: Health fight brings back bad memories for Democrats |
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Julie Mason, White House correspondent for "The (Washington) Examiner", had some thoughts on the current cacophony of "SWIFTBOAT !" shrieks emanating from an exasperated left.
While her reportage has some merit, she misses the mark widely with her rather naieve, often unqualified parroting of leftist spin...and elevating Rick Scott to "key player" status in the Swiftvet organization.
Rick Scott? A Swiftvet "key player"? Puh-leeeeez.... 
| Quote: | Health fight brings back bad memories for Democrats
By: Julie Mason
Examiner White House Correspondent
August 16, 2009
With its swift boat references and invocations of critics standing for things before they were against them, the 2009 health care reform debate is sounding like the 2004 presidential campaign.
Whether either party learned the right lessons from 2004 to apply to the current health care fracas is an open question.
"We're confident that the American people will support this legislation," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "We're going to make sure that health care reform does not get swift-boated during the month of August."
Since the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 helped sink the presidential hopes of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic Party has had no greater bugaboo.
The party blamed itself for not retaliating fast enough to the well-funded anti-Kerry organization. Swift-boating, in the meantime, has become a political shorthand for divisive, exaggerated campaign attacks.
The Democratic Party since 2004 has become more nimble and pointed in its response to outside threats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi derided as "astroturf" the purportedly grassroots opposition to health care reform. The White House has been blaming the news media and calling out critics for distortions.
On message boards and in e-mails among Democratic supporters of health care reform, the swift boat tactics of the opposition are a recurring theme.
But another lesson from 2004 is how disciplined and focused Republicans were about getting out the vote against Kerry -- a flawed candidate defeated in the end by a combination of his own shortcomings, the swift boat attacks, and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign's use of microtargeting and other tactics.
"Calling out swift-boating is almost like a reflex mechanism by Democrats when they have lost a grip on the public debate," said Republican strategist Kevin Madden. "It is probably a leading indicator right now of the frustration they are experiencing with trying to regain a handle on the debate."
Still, the swift boat metaphor in the health care debate contains a kernel of truth: Rick Scott, founder of Conservatives for Patients Rights, a group opposed to health care reform, was a key player in the 2004 swift boat campaign, and has brought the group's public relations team back to work against health care reform.
The Examiner - cont'd |
By the way Miss Mason, that's ALLEGED "swift boat tactics of the opposition". |
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TEWSPilot
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Is anyone planning to enlighten Ms Mason about Rick Scott and any role he actually played with the Swiftvets? Trying to explain the true meaning of "Swiftboating" would probably be more than she could absorb. |
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Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
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| Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| TEWSPilot wrote: | | Trying to explain the true meaning of "Swiftboating" would probably be more than she could absorb. |
Oh...I dunno Tews. I think she stated (albeit rather weakly) the partisan nature of pejoratizing "swiftboat". Pity she bought into the "Rick Scott, Key swiftboat player" nonsense so readily though.
Oh well...another day, another pseudo-informed journalist. |
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TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:15 am Post subject: |
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Pardon my confusion, but how is Rick Scott associated with the Swiftvets other than having chosen to use CRC Public Relations as his media consultant in 2009?
My squadron coordinated daily with the Swiftboats during the Vietnam war, passing intel to them, so does that make "ME" a key player....oh, never mind. |
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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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| Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| TEWSPilot wrote: | | Pardon my confusion, but how is Rick Scott associated with the Swiftvets other than having chosen to use CRC Public Relations as his media consultant in 2009? |
It must be so. It's in print everywhere |
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Deuce
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 589
Location: FL
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| Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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| TEWSPilot, I'm with you on this one....similar to your own situation, I was walking distance from the 6th Convalescence Center on a Cam Ranh beach, which is on the same Sea as the Swift Boat units....guess I'm related as well! More likely the author will finally come round and notice that like Tea Parties, SwiftVets for Truth were bringing out the TRUTH about a Democrat Scam, not lies! As I've (now) said elsewhere, Democrats everywhere need to ask themselves: "why do the people I elect keep screwing me?". One by one, they may find an answer all by themselves! |
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BuffaloJack
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1637
Location: Buffalo, New York
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| Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:04 am Post subject: |
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The Swiftboat campaign is important, because it showed America that a SMALL determined group can actually sway public thinking and political climates. Americans learned this lesson and are successfully using it to beat down the socialist programs of the liberals.
This is what worries them.
_________________
Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71) |
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fortdixlover
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 1476
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:58 am Post subject: |
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The use of "Swiftboating" as a derogatory term by the left is just a SOP from their Bible, the Saul Alinsky rules for radicals playbook.
It should be responded to with comments like this:
"It's too bad there was no Swiftboats website around when the left's cowardice led to pulling out Vietnam, and the aftermath of that cowardice such as the Killing Fields where millions were butchered by fine leftist fellow travelers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, a.k.a. the Khmer Rouge."
Stop taking their Alinsky games and attack at the jugular with the unpleasant facts.
-- FDL
_________________
"Millions For Defense, Not One Cent For Tribute" - Thomas Jefferson on paying ransom to Muslim corsairs (pirates). |
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