19 Comments so far

1. simple March 2nd, 2007 6:27 pm

   if you you think that americans can’t be fooled again. you are wrong. it’s that faith in a “form” that is the american public. passively sitting on the hands and thinking amercians will do the right thing, “they have been fooled to many times to be fooled again”. WRONG! your faith in that form is a DELUSION.

   you’ve done a service by making those assholes the story and following them so they don’t suprise attack. shoot! they just excercised their muscle with gores eletric bill last week. …not those swifters but the organsim they are apart of.

   i live in the “heartland” and work in a corporate engineering enviroment. the majority of people i work with are idoits who listen to limbaugh. i get emails degrading hillary all the time. i probably get 6 hanoi jane emails a year. my point is… people are fucking stupid. they are sheep and if you are going to out maneuver the swift boaters, you have to
   move the sheep faster then they do. YOU CANNOT RELY ON THE SHEEP!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Bill from Saginaw March 2nd, 2007 6:37 pm

   “So why has the Conservative Political Action Conference resuscitated several already discredited Swifties for an inflammatory panel?”

   Because for the last six years Karl Rove and the red meat Neanderthal neo-con fringe of the Republican Party have been consciously adding a Homeland Security/military/military contractors component to the GOP’s more familiar “base” factions of big business, anti-abortion and pro-gun crusaders, and the right wing religious community.

   That’s why Little George has made so many photo op campaign appearances on military bases. That’s why tons of federal tax money is funneled as targeted patronage into the Department of Homeland Security, its myriad sub-contractors, and all those corporate entrepreneurs big and small bidding in to privatize traditional military functions. That’s why partisan domestic links between the Pentagon and state & local law enforcement agencies are being nurtured nationwide with grants, surplus military equipment, and technological assistance, all under the guise of national security.

   They put the Swifties on center stage to show their base that they support their base. And to remind the would-be opposition that you better suck up big time in support of the troops or else you can be sure to get slimed like Kerry, Cleland, and Murtha.

3. kittyladyoregon March 2nd, 2007 7:26 pm

   And just how do they explain the abysmal treatment of wounded vets when they return home?

4. EnPassant March 2nd, 2007 8:10 pm

   “…because Americans just aren’t that dumb?” Rosa, you need to put down the crack pipe and come up for some air. Lets see…GW Bush – twice. 9/11 conflated with a war on…Iraq? Doughnut holes, Enron, outsourced American jobs, corporate pond scum criminals reaping hundreds of millions,EACH?, Halliburton, 9 BILLION dollars unaccounted for, “I voted for the war before I voted against it”, Limbaugh, Coulter(shudder), Patriot Act, Military Commissions act, Abu Graib, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, torture…Do you know how long this list IS? Dumb doesn’t begin to describe Americans as a whole, but Ignorant, Stupid and Asleep is a good start. I take back Ignorant. Ignorance is correctable, but Stupid, sadly, is forever.

5. provoice March 3rd, 2007 1:20 am

   It is sad, but these groups are highly effective with people who are just too busy or lack the knowledge of how to CHECK for the truth.

   They take a few “urban legends” and myths and add their own made-up testimony to the myth… and then publish it as fact.

   Many of us spent the entire election season trying to point out the TRUTH, and we were drowned out by the chorus of radical right wing liars.

   For example, I was one of the news people in the room the day John Kerry “disparaged his fellow troops in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.”

   What I heard was a soldier harshly criticizing the LEADERS that sent those troops into a poorly planned and executed quagmire and then abandoned them and their problems when they returned.

   What I heard was a standing ovation from Kerry’s fellow soldiers, the Senators and the news people in attendance.

   For YEARS I tried to get other people to READ the actual transcripts of that event, and no one would do it… they would sooner accept Limbaugh’s lies because it fit their prejudices.

   These people have consistently smeared our decorated war veterans and have done it with relative impunity.

   They are seriously dangerous and should be treated like societal gangrene.

6. Shenonymous March 3rd, 2007 11:58 am

   That is a great political slogan FOR 2008, “THE LUNATIC RIGHT CAN RETURN ONLY IF YOU LET THEM!” How many scandals do voters need to witnes before they run the bums out of town? The latest is the one about out-patient treatment of wounded soldiers! Democratic politicians ought to be publicly enumerating all the Republican scandals, who the Administration has either fired, asked to leave their jobs, or had the judicial segment of government let off the hook.

7. Johnny36 March 3rd, 2007 12:25 pm

   Great article by Ms. Brooks for sounding the alarm about some of the worst creeps in American society, but I agree with other posters that the only way the public will remember the crimes of these rodents is if the progressives keep the drum beat going. Let’s face it, the millions that still listen to Rush and Fox will never have a clue about anything and will always be receptive to jingoism. Forget them and focus on soccor moms and college kids, they’re the ones who will listen up when we recount the sins of the Swift Boat Whores and Ollie North.

8. Gail March 3rd, 2007 1:16 pm

   kittyladyoregon March 2nd, 2007 7:26 pm:

   “And just how do they explain the abysmal treatment of wounded vets when they return home?”

   They don’t! The “lunatic right” never brings up this issue in Congress; it’s ALWAYS the Democrats who defend the needs of the veterans. The lunatic right sends them off to bogus wars and forgets about them when they return home because the care they need is seen as a drain on the system.

9. Toolooze March 3rd, 2007 7:28 pm

   The Democrats need to issue “talking facts” about patriotism and the troops. About sending our sons and daughters, our moms and dads to war with (1)inadequate body armor (2) under-armored humvees (3) non percussion safe helmets. (4) veteran benefit funding, ad nauseum. Simple, direct and to the point so that the average person can respond to the hateful lies the “swift boaters” spew.

10. Robert Settgast March 4th, 2007 12:36 pm

    Despite the measures taken by the Bush administration to distance themselves from the swift boats veterans, they are clearly disciples the Rove-Bush character assassination team. Don’t forget the vicious ( and successful) assaults on Sen Max Cleland who was branded unpatriotic (even shown next to Bin Laden in a photo) because he sponsored an investigation into 9/11 which Bush had opposed–and the list goes on.

    Blame for this unprecedented degree of slander falls mainly on the apathetic/gullible electorate for allowing themselves to be influenced and guided by such shallow deception.

11. rob.price March 4th, 2007 2:55 pm

    While failing to distinguish her own tactics from those she dejects, the author stays on the defensive and employs epithets like stupid, and lunatic. Why succumb to defense if she’s right? Why use the very weapons of her opponent? Why not challenge the very constructs? Tell me, if someone said they were going to fight you, would agree to their terms and definitions when their purpose is to destroy you? Why step in the arena made by the king? He taxes the people for an endless supply of foot soldiers willing to die for honor, and glory, and for the riches of empire. Why be so foolish as to walk down the road built by he who you despise? The author chooses to not challenge the social constructions, and elects to pick up the sword provided by her opponent and run head-on into the fight.

    While power elites sit to the side having tea and cucumber sandwiches, courage, and honor, and pride build mountains out of corpses.

12. Vera Diligo March 4th, 2007 10:50 pm

    Anyone who says that American voters can’t be fooled is either a politician running for office or is delusional.

    Our political history is replete with examples of stupidity but I’ll just remind you of the 2004 election. A London newspaper, I don’t remember which one, headlined: How could 39 million Americans be so dumb?!

    What worries me even more than this administration is the gullibilty of the American electorate. Who knows who they will elect next?

    And anyone who says that actions speak louder words knows nothing of politics. There are just too many mindless fools that will
    believe what they want to believe or what they are told to believe and not by logic,reason and facts.

    The only way to beat the “swift boaters” is to hit them harder than they hit us.

13. BigNoseKate March 4th, 2007 11:18 pm

    I must have missed the time when they actually left…too bad, I would love the opportunity to miss them…for a nanosecond or two.
    BNK

14. MountainMike March 5th, 2007 12:06 am

    The real problem with dirty campaign tactics is that they work.

    In 2000, McCain was headed for winning the primaries and becoming the Republican candidate, but his toughest primaries were yet to come in southern states. The Rove team circulated McCain family photos, including their non white Indian adopted daughter. The rumor that went out with the photo was that it was his illegitimate child with an African American woman. Bush picked up the racist vote and won, especially in Falwell country.

    Swiftboaters are amateurs compared to that professional weasel Karl Rove. I would love to see someone successfully smear him out of politics.

15. davejiowa March 6th, 2007 1:03 pm

    If you were to take the time to read Howard Dean’s book on the neo-conservativism of our time, you would immediately recognize the blind followers of the meglomanics in washington. The swift boat boys are a group of misinformed souls looking for a cause. Anyone who served even a week in Southeast asia knows the score and the war mythology. However, that does not explain the limp behavior of Kerry who would have made a terrible president anyway.

16. Nietzsche March 7th, 2007 5:39 pm

    Some members of the public are dumb. Some are so tired after working their third job they have no time to pay attention nor energy to care. No wonder the neocons oppose raising the minimum wage!

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